John Brown 
Soldier of Fortune 

A Critique 




iuy^L/ 



JOHN BROWN 
SOLDIER OF FORTUNE 

A CRITIQUE 



BY 

HILL PEEBLES WILSON 



MR. VALLANDIGHAM: Mr. Brown, who sent you here? 

JOHN BROWN : No man sent me here; it was my own prompting and that of my 
Maker, or that of the Devil, whichever you please to ascribe it to. I acknowledge 
no master in human form. 

Post, 313 




HILL P. WILSON 

LAWRENCE, KANSAS 

19 13 



Copyright 1913 by 
Hill Peebles Wilson 



THE TORCH PRESS 
CEDAR RAPIDS 

IOWA 



AS* 



TO THE MEMORY OF 

MRS. SARA T. D. ROBINSON 

OF KANSAS 



PREFACE 

The writer of this book is not an iconoclast, neither has he 
prejudged John Brown. In 1859 the character was impressed 
upon his attention in a personal way. An older brother, Joseph 
E. Wilson, was a member of the company of marines that 
made the assault on the engine-house at Harper's Ferry, on the 
morning of October 18th; and from him he heard the story of 
the fight, and about Brown. 

In 1889 the Topeka (Kansas) Daily Capital took a poll of 
the members of the Kansas Legislature on the question : "Who 
was the most distinguished Kansan?" or something to that 
effect. At that time the writer held the opinion that the public 
services rendered by John Brown in Kansas Territory, were of 
paramount importance in the settlement of the Free-State con- 
tention ; and since the course which the nation was at that time 
pursuing had been arrested by the result of that contention, and 
diverted into the path which led to the marvelous achievements 
of the succeeding years ; he, therefore, over his signature cast 
his vote in favor of John Brown ; saying, among other things, in 
his little panegyric, that Brown is the only Kansan whose fame 
was immortal. 

In 1898 he reformed his opinions concerning Brown's char- 
acter and conduct, and the importance of his public services in 
Kansas. The change came about through an effort on his part 
to write a sketch of his life for a work entitled "Eminent Men 
of Kansas." In good faith, and with much of the confidence 
and enthusiasm characteristic of Brown's eulogists, he began 
an investigation of the available historical data relating to the 
subject; when he found to his surprise, and disgust, that the 



10 PREFACE 

history of Brown's career contained nothing to justify the pub- 
lic estimate of him. 

Reporting to his associate that he would not write the sketch, 
lie said that he ''could find but little in the record of his life 
which gave him creditable distinction, and that he did not wish 
to write the discreditable things about him which it contained." 

Later he gathered up the threads of Brown's life and has 
woven them, conscientiously, into the web of history. The 
story reveals little which is creditable to Brown or worthy of 
emulation and much that is abhorrent. But he indulges the hope 
that he has made it clear that his conceptions of the character 
have not been inspired by ''prejudice." "blind" or otherwise, 
for he has examined the records in the case ; an examination 
which has led him through all the existing testimony concern- 
ing Brown ; except, that he has not explored the writings 
which have been put forth by those who have sought, viciously, 
to attack Brown's character. The opinions therefore which he 
has set forth are convictions resulting from serious investiga- 
tion and thought. 

Tn conclusion, the author takes great pleasure in acknowledg- 
ing the deep sense of his obligation to the late Airs. Sara T. D. 
Robinson, wife of Charles Robinson of Kansas, whose gen- 
erosity, and dee]) interest in the history of our country, made 
the publication of this book possible. 

Also, he desires to express his gratitude to Dr. William 
Watson Davis, of the University of Kansas, for the cordial 
encouragement which he received from him while preparing 
the work, and for his kindly assistance in molding the text 
into its present form. Also, to Dr. William Savage Johnson. 
and to Professor William Asbury Whitaker, Jr., both of the 
University of Kansas, he wishes to return his thanks for many 
valuable suggestions. 
Lawrence, Kansas, April 15. 1913. 



CONTENTS 



I The Subject Matter 

II The Man .... 

Ill Kansas — A Crisis in Our National 
History .... 

IV His Public Services 

V Robbery and Murder on the Potta- 

watomie . 

VI Black Jack 

VII Osawatomie 

VIII Hypocrisy 

IX A Soldier of Fortune 

X The Provisional Government 

XI The Shubel Morgan Plunder Company 

XII Mobilizing the Provisional Army 

XIII The Fiasco 

XIV A Perversion oe History 
XV His Great Adventure 

XVI A Soldier of the Cross 

XVII "Yet Shall He Live" 



15 
26 

55 
72 

95 
135 
154 
181 
223 
243 
259 
283 
296 
323 
341 
364 
395 



APPENDICES 

I Correspondence with the late D. W. 

Wilder concerning John Brown . 411 

II Recollections of John Brown at Harper's 
Ferry by Alexander BotelER, a Vir- 
ginian WHO WITNESSED TFIE FICITT . 414 

III Constitution and Ordinance for the Peo- 

ple of the United States . . 417 

IV John Brown's Autobiography . . 431 



ILLUSTRATIONS 

John Brown .... Frontispiece ■ 

Steel engraving made from a photograph compared with a 
photogravure. The photograph was taken about 1859. Orig- 
inal in the Kansas State Historical Society. The photo- 
gravure is from Air. Oswald Garrison Villard's book : John 
Brown — A Biography Fifty Years After. 

John Brown .... facing page 98 

Steel engraving, made as above. The photograph was 
copied from a daguerreotype taken in 1856. Original in the 
Kansas State Historical Society. 



CHAPTER I 

THE SUBJECT MATTER 

Truth, crushed to earth shall rise again; 

— Bryant 

The object of the writer, in publishing this book, is to correct 
a perversion of truth, whereby John Brown has acquired fame, 
as an altruist and a martyr, which should not be attributed to 
him. 

The book is a review of the historical data that have been 
collected and published by his principal biographers : Mr. 
James Redpath. Mr. Frank B. Sanborn and Mr. Oswald Gar- 
rison Vrllard. It is also a criticism of these writers, who have 
sought to suppress, and have suppressed, important truths re- 
lating to the subject of which they wrote, and who have misin- 
formed and misled the public concerning the true character of 
this figure in our national history ; and have established in its 
stead a fictitious character, which is wholly illogical and incon- 
sistent with the facts and circumstances of Brown's life. 

Mr. Redpath, his first and most lurid biographer, was a 
newspaper correspondent of the type now generally called 
"yellow." He was a "Disunionist," and seems to have been a 
malcontent, who went to Kansas Territory to oppose the policy 
which the Free-State men had adopted for a safe and sane solu- 
tion of the Free-State problem ; and who sought to thwart their 
efforts to create a free state by peaceable means. He said : ~ 
I believed that a civil war between the North and South 

would ultimate in insurrection and that the Kansas troubles 

would probably create a military conflict of the sections. 

2 Redpath, Roving Editor, 300. 



16 JOHN BROWN: A CRITIQUE 

Hence, I left the South, and went to Kansas ; and endeavored 
personally, and by my pen, to precipitate a revolution. 
After Brown's spectacular fiasco in Virginia, and tragical 
death, his cultured partisans, in most conspicuous eloquence 
proclaimed him to have been a philanthropist — an altruistic 
hero; and placed a martyr's crown upon his brow. Mr. Red- 
path's purpose, in putting forth his work, was to make Brown 
over to fit the part ; to make his life appear to conform with the 
extravagant attributes of his improvised estate. In pursu- 
ance thereof he sought to conceal the facts concerning the 
actions and purposes of his life, rather than to develop them; 
and to blind the trails leading to the facts with masses of senti- 
mental rubbish ; and to divert public attention away from them. 
Upon the publication of his book, The Public Life of Captain 
John Brown, Mr. Charles Eliot Norton, in a review of the work, 
expressed his disapproval of it in vigorous langauge. He said : 3 
It would be well had this book never been written. Mr. 
Redpath has understood neither the opportunities opened to 
him, nor the responsibilities laid upon him, in being per- 
mitted to write the "authorized" life of John Brown. His 
book, in whatever light it is viewed — whether as the biogra- 
phy of a remarkable man, as an historic narrative of a series 
of important events, or simply as a mere piece of literary 
job-work — is equally unsatisfactory. . . 

There never was more need for a good life of any man 
than there was for one of John Brown. . . Those who 
thought best of him, and those who thought the worst, were 
alike desirous to know more of him than the newspapers had 
furnished, and to become acquainted with the course of his 
life, and the training which had prepared him for Kansas 
and brought him to Harper's Ferry. Whatever view be 
taken of his character, he was a man so remarkable as to be 
well worthy of study. . . 

In seasons of excitement, and amid the struggles of politi- 

3 Atlantic Monthly, March, 1860. 



THE SUBJECT MATTER 17 

cal contention, the men who use the most extravagant and 
the most violent words have, for a time, the advantage : 
but, in the long run, they damage whatever cause they may 
adopt ; and the truth, which their declamations have obscured 
or their falsehoods have violated, finally asserts itself. . . 
Extravagance in condemnation has been answered by ex- 
travagance in praise of his life and deeds. 

Twenty-five years later, when Mr. Sanborn published his 
book. Life and Letters of John Brazen, Liberator of Kansas, 
and Martyr of Virginia, Mr. John F. Morse, Jr.. voiced the dis- 
appointment felt by discriminating persons, in an article pub- 
lished in February, 1886. 4 He said: 

So grand a subject cannot fail to inspire a writer able to 
do justice to the theme : and when such an one draws Brown, 
he will produce one of the most attractive books in the lan- 
guage. But meantime the ill-starred "martyr" suffers a 
prolongation of martyrdom, standing like another St. Se- 
bastian to be riddled with the odious arrows of fulsome 
panegyrists. With other unfortunate men of like stamp, he 
has attracted a horde of writers, who, with rills of versicles 
and oceans of prose, have overwhelmed his simple noble 
memory beneath torrents of wild extravagant admiration, 
foolish thoughts expressed in appropriately silly language, 
absurd adulation inducing only protest and a dangerous con- 
tradictory emotion. Amid this throng of ill advised wor- 
shippers, Mr. Sanborn, by virtue of his lately published 
biographical volume, has assumed the most prominent place. 
Referring to the opinions expressed by these writers, Mr. 
Villard, in the preface to his book. John Brown, A Biography 
Fifty Years After, says : "Since 1886 there have appeared five 
other lives of Brown. 5 the most important being that of Richard 
J. Hinton, who, in his preface gloried in holding a brief for 
Brown and his men." Concerning his book he says: 

4 Atlantic Monthly. 

5 Panegyrics or eulogies on Brown would more accurately describe 
these writings. 



18 JOHN BROWN: A CRITIQUE 

The present volume is inspired by no such purpose, but is 
due to a belief that fifty years after the Harper's Ferry trag- 
edy, the time is ripe for a study of John Brown, free from 
bias, from the errors of taste and fact of the mere panegyrist 
and from the blind prejudice of those who can see in John 
Brown nothing but a criminal. The pages that follow were 
written to detract from or champion no man or set of men, 
but to put forth the essential truths of history as far as ascer- 
tainable, and to judge -Brown, his followers and associates, 
in the light thereof. How successful this attempt has been is 
for the reader to judge. That this volume in no wise ap- 
proaches the attractiveness which Mr. Morse looked for, the 
author fully understands. On the other hand no stone has 
been left unturned to make accurate the smallest detail ; the 
original documents, contemporary letters and living wit- 
nesses, have been examined in every quarter of the United 
States. Materials never before utilized have been drawn 
upon, and others discovered whose existence has heretofore 
been unknown. 

Under this broad pledge of personal fidelity to the subject, 
this historian introduced his volume, and has asked the public 
to give him its full confidence and to accept his work as a faith- 
ful and complete record of the ascertainable truths of history 
relating to the subject. For the ardor which he has exhibited, 
and for the great labor which he has expended in his compila- 
tion, and for much material of minor importance, which he has 
uncovered, the student of history will not fail to acknowledge 
to Mr. Villard the sense of his obligation. In these respects, 
and in the scholarly features characteristic of the writings, it is 
an interesting and dramatic contribution to this literature. But. 
he will not be stampeded by protestations of zeal, and by pro- 
fessions of integrity, to accept it as a presentation of the as- 
certainable truth. The work is more conspicuous for the ab- 
sence from its pages of important historical truths, and for the 
contradiction of others which have been authenticated, than it 



THE SUBJECT MATTER 19 

is for the great volume of trivial facts which it presents. A 
line of derelictions conspicuously prevailing throughout the 
pages of the book, amply justify the charge that it was not 
written, primarily, for an historical purpose — "to put forth 
the truths of history as far as ascertainable, and to judge Brown 
and his followers in the light thereof." The true purpose seems 
to be ulterior to that which is effusively proclaimed in the prefa- 
tory declarations. He has written into the history of our 
country a concept of the character of John Brown which is in- 
congruous with the actions and circumstances of Brown's life. 
He has created a semi-supernatural person — "a complex char- 
acter" — embodying the virtues of the "Hebrew prophets" and 
"Cromwellian Roundheads" with the depraved instincts and 
practices of thieves and murderers. He presents a man who, 
for righteous purposes, "violated the statute and moral laws" ; 
whose conduct was vile, but whose aims were pure ; whose ac- 
tions were brutal and criminal, but whose motives were unselfish. 

If this author had redeemed the pledge which he solemnly 
gave to the public, to put forth the truths of history as far as 
ascertainable, and, judging Brown and his followers in the light 
of them, had justified his "terrible violation of the statute and 
moral laws," the nature of this criticism would be different ; it 
would be directed against his discrimination or, perhaps, against 
his intelligence. But that is not the case. The author referred 
to has sifted the truths of this history, and from the fragments 
has framed an hypothetical case ; and has judged Brown and 
his followers in the light of that creation. "How may the kill- 
ings on the Pottawatomie, this terrible violation of the statute 
and the moral law be justified? This is the question that has 
confronted every student of John Brown's life since it was defi- 
nitely established that Brown was, if not actually a principal in 
the crime, an accessory and an instigator," 6 is not the language 
of an impartial historian ; but it is consistently the language of 

e Villard, 170. 



20 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 

an advocate who writes for a specious, for an ulterior purpose. 
Why should an historian seek to justify a crime? Why should 
this author, if he intended to write impartially, seek for evi- 
dence to justify this horror? It was the desire to justify the 
crime that impelled the author to seek for pretexts for justifica- 
tion of it among the surviving criminals, and to garble the his- 
torical facts concerning it. 

The crime was the theft of a large number of horses ; to ac- 
complish it, and to safeguard the loot, it was necessary to kill 
the owners thereof. It was a premeditation. The plans for it 
were laid several weeks before it was executed, and during a 
time of profound peace. The principals were John Brown ; his 
unmarried sons; Henry Thompson, his son-in-law; Theodore 
Weiner, and four confederates : Jacob Benjamin, B. L. Cochrane, 
John E. Cook and Charles Lenhart, whose names are herein as- 
sociated with this crime for the first time in history. These 
confederates received from Brown's party the horses which be- 
longed to the men whom they murdered, and ran them out of 
the country ; leaving with Brown a number of horses, "fast run- 
ning horses," which they had stolen in the northern part of the 
Territory. That is the crime which this author seeks to justify ; 
he has concealed these truths, and has suppressed the evidence 
concerning them. Pretending to put forth the "exact facts as to 
the happenings on the Pottawatomie," he has suppressed the 
evidence concerning the most important of the happenings, and 
has added no material fact concerning them which James 
Townsley had not, years before, put forth in his confession. 

The public should know that as early as April 16, 1856, John 
Brown and his unmarried sons planned to abandon Kansas and 
the Free-State Cause and had disbanded the Free-State com- 
pany to which they belonged, the "Liberty Guards," of which 
John Brown was captain; also, that the "Pottawatomie Rifles" 
had been organized in its stead, with John Brown, Jr., as cap- 
tain ; and that neither John Brown nor his unmarried sons be- 



THE SUBJECT MATTER 21 

longed to it. They were "a little company" by themselves. 7 The 
public should also know that prior to that date, as early as April 
7th, Brown and the members of his little company had decided 
to abandon their claims and leave the country; and further, that 
they desired a recrudescence of pro-slavery atrocities. Con- 
cerning Brown's character and his life in Kansas, as well as his 
relation to territorial affairs, and a correct understanding of the 
Pottawatomie affair, no more important letter was written by 
him than his letter of April 7th disclosing these facts, a letter 
which Mr. Villard, in furtherance of his purpose, has seen fit 
to sift from history and suppress. The public has a right to 
know what Henry Thompson meant when he wrote in May that 
"upon Brown's plans would depend his own 'until School is 
out.' ' This biographer, who said that he had left no stone un- 
turned to make accurate the smallest detail, 8 interviewed Henry 
Thompson, and could have obtained from him a statement con- 
cerning the plans to which he intended to subordinate his con- 
duct, which involved matters of so much importance as leaving 
the country. Salmon Brown and Henry Thompson could have 
told this historian why the "Liberty Guards" were disbanded 
and the "Pottawatomie Rifles" organized; and when, and for 
what purpose the "little company of six," which intended to 
leave the neighborhood, was formed; and he could have in- 
cluded the information in his statement of the "exact facts." 
Mr. Villard says it was organized May 23d ; but that is not an 
"exact" statement; it is a contradiction of a statement which 
John Brown made over his signature concerning it. 9 These men 
could have told Mr. Villard specifically why they abandoned 
their claims, whither they intended to go, and what they in- 
tended to do. And further, they could have told him where 
they were, and what they were doing, during the fifty days 
their "whereabouts" are by this biographer reported as being 

7 Sanborn, 236. 

8 Villard, vii. 

9 Sanborn, 230. 



22 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 

"unknown," and their actions unaccounted for. 10 These mat- 
ters are not trifling details in this history. In view of the au- 
thor's fine panegyrics concerning Brown's devotion to the 
Free-State cause, his intention to abandon it, and quit the Ter- 
ritory as early as March, 1856, is of more striking consequence 
than his coming into it; and the disbanding of the "Liberty 
Guards" in March, 1856, was an act of greater significance than 
was the organization of the company in December, 1855. 

Mr. Villard's treatment of the Pottawatomie incident, "with- 
out a clear appreciation of which a true understanding of 
Brown, the man, cannot be reached," 1X must stand as an in- 
dictment, either of his discrimination or of the integrity of his 
purpose, concerning it. Not being a dull man, he could not 
have been imposed upon by the participants in this riot of rob- 
bery and blood whom he interviewed, and whose evasions he 
has certified to the world as the exact facts. It was not the 
happenings on the night of May 24, 1856, that determine "the 
degree of criminality, if any," [mark the language, if any] "that 
should attach to Brown, for his part in the proceedings," 12 for 
they were but the execution of the plans which had theretofore 
been laid for the adventure. Whatever the circumstances of 
the author's dereliction may have been, the fact remains, that 
the truths concerning this historical episode have been sifted, 
and such documents and concurrent evidence as tend to estab- 
lish the fact that the motive for these murders was robbery, 
have been consistently suppressed from his exposition of it. 

Brown made no attempt to justify his conduct in the affair. 
He would have acknowledged his responsibility and would have 
pleaded justification for his acts, if there had been even a 
shadow of a pretext for any justification ; for he was shifty and 
crafty as well as vain ; and was sensitive concerning his reputa- 

"Villard, 673. 

11 Villard, 148. 

12 Ibid. 



THE SUBJECT MATTER 23 

tion. 13 Not having the murdered men's horses in his posses- 
sion, he denied his complicity with the murders, denied that he 
was concerned in the crime. If he had "killed his men" (and 
stolen their horses) "in the conscientious belief that he was a 
faithful servant of Kansas and of the Lord," as this author as- 
serts, he would not have denied his relationishp with the Lord 
in the matter, and offended Deity by persistently denying his 
participation in it with Him ; neither would he have abandoned 
Kansas and the Free-State cause within the ensuing sixty days. 
Cowardly midnight robbery is impossible of justification upon 
any ordinary circumstantial hypothesis ; and is preeminently so 
when the crime is aggravated by brutal assassinations, such as 
were incidental to this wholesale theft of horses. 

The derelictions concerning the history of the Pottawatomie 
are characteristic of Mr. Villard's treatment of the more vital 
episode of Brown's career: his attempt to incite a revolution in 
the Southern States and to establish over them the authority of 
a "provisional government." This Brown planned to precipitate 
and accomplish by an insurrection of the slaves, and a resulting 
indiscriminate assassination of the slave-holding population; 
such as the people of that generation, North and South, be- 
lieved to be impending, if not imminent. This central truth 
Mr. Villard denies, and seeks to substitute for Brown's inten- 
tions, the invention that his movement was merely a transitory 
raid, the forerunner of a series of similar raids to be under- 
taken by "small bands hidden in the mountain fastnesses." 
This conception is gratituitous and illogical ; a contradiction of 
history and inconsistent with the bold, intrepid, daring, cour- 
ageous characteristics which he has, except in this sole instance, 
consistently ascribed to Brown's character. 

Brown's purposes, at Harper's Ferry, are logically foreshad- 
owed by every act of his life, beginning with March, 1857 ; and 
are written in letters of living light in the "Constitution and 

13 Sanborn, 240. 



24 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 

Ordinances for the People of the United States," and in "Gen- 
eral Order, No. 1," dated: 

"headquarters war department, provisional army. 

"Harper's Ferry, October 10, 1859." 

As in the Pottawatomie incident, and consistent with a pur- 
pose to pervert this history, and fasten an imposition upon the 
public, these two "public documents," uttered, ex cathedra, by 
John Brown, find no place in Mr. Villard's book ; they are not 
put forth as essential truths of history. The general order 
providing for the formation of the Provisional Army is not 
even remotely referred to; while the Constitution and Ordi- 
nances are treated contemptuously, and passed over slightingly 
with a few commonplace and irrelevant criticisms; and dis- 
missed from consideration with manifest impatience and irrita- 
tion as being so inconsistent — not with Brown's purposes, but 
with the author's theory of them — as to "forbid discussion." 14 

As a study of John Brown, Mr. Villard's book is mislead- 
ing, and, in places, worthless. It is a jargon of facts and 
fancies; a juggling with the truths of history; a recital of the 
long list of Brown's minor peculations, and the bloody deeds 
which accent his career, interlarded with half-hearted denuncia- 
tions of his moral obliquity and conspicuously fulsome pane- 
gyrics upon his character, and extravagantly illogical attri- 
butes concerning the nobility of his aims. The book seems to 
have been put forth not with reference to the truth, but to en- 
noble an ignoble character ; to shroud the character in a mantle 
of mystery; to create in the twentieth century, a "complex" 
character: a mystic with a propensity to do wrong; wherein 
there is a compromise of virtue with vice. To the accomplish- 
ment of this end, this author has not only bent his energies in 
subordinating the truth, but, as a furtherance of his purpose, 
he has deemed it necessary to pass beyond the boundaries of 

" Villard, 335. 



THE SUBJECT MATTER 25 

historical research, and seek to strengthen his cause by inviting 
discredit upon the opinions of any who may venture to dissent 
from his inventions. 

It may not be held to be a suspicious circumstance, but it cer- 
tainly is not good form for an historian to presuppose that his 
statements of fact will be disbelieved, and that the logic of his 
conclusions concerning them will be challenged by any one. 
Nor should he seek to discredit hypothetical opinions by the 
cheap, or vulgar, assertion that such opinions have their origin 
in prejudice — "blind prejudice"; for jurors, and even judges, 
sometimes disagree ; and it is possible for persons, who are con- 
scientious, to receive divergent impressions in relation to the 
same subject. He would have preserved a better decorum if 
he had relied upon candor, and the supreme truthfulness of his 
narrative, and the clearness of his reasoning, whereby to sup- 
plant disbelief with faith, and to dispel prejudice by enlighten- 
ing it. 

The tree is better known by its fruits, than by any tag which 
the owner may attach to the trunk. An historian who con- 
scientiously writes the truths of history, is not solicitous con- 
cerning the criticisms of any who may read his lines. 



CHAPTER II 

THE MAN 

Not every one that saith unto me Lord, Lord, shall enter 
unto the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of 
my Father which is in heaven. — Matthew, 7:21 

The picturesque figure which has been presented to the public 
as John Brown is an historical myth — a fiction. The charac- 
ter, as it has been exploited, is a contradiction of the laws that 
govern in human nature. The material for it was furnished 
by partisans, who were unscrupulous writers of the times of 
strenuous political excitement and national unrest, in which 
Brown, by his deeds of violence, attracted public attention. 
Following the practice of partisans, these writers wrote with 
reckless disregard for the truth of their statements. Later, in 
the ultimate crisis that occurred in his fortunes, he was eulo- 
gized in surpassing eloquence by sincere people of high ideals, 
who were unaware of the real character of the object of their 
adoration. They were not informed concerning the criminal 
life which he had led, or of the shockingly brutal crimes which 
he had committed ; neither did they understand that in his final 
undertaking he sought to involve a section of our fair land in 
a carnival of rapine and bloodshed exceeding in extent the hor- 
rors of San Domingo. 15 They were misled and were moved, in 
their orations, solely by sentiment and misplaced sympathy. 
Instead of a grim and unscrupulous soldier of fortune, leading 
a band of desperate men in an effort to unloose in the Slave 
States the demon of insurrection, they could see in him only a 
15 Hinton, John Brown and His Men, 66. 



THE MAN 27 

religious devotee, whom their imaginations had created ; whose 
life they believed had been a devotion to deeds of charity and 
benevolence ; who for years had been the especial champion of 
the slave ; and whose work in Kansas had been, as in the exist- 
ing crisis, an heroic and consistent consecration to duty. This 
man now awaited execution for his immutability to a great 
cause. He appeared to them to be a reincarnation.of the virtu- 
ous primitive Christian — an altruistic hero — who, willing to 
die for his convictions, had "dared the unequal"; and, after 
battling heroically, though vainly, for humanity, had offered 
himself a sacrifice, making "the gallows glorious like the cross." 
These original laudations attracted, as Mr. Morse has stated, a 
"horde of writers, who, with rills of versicles and oceans of 
prose have overwhelmed his memory beneath torrents of wild 
extravagant admiration." 

Many persons therefore believe Brown to have been an ex- 
ceptional person, a man of deep religious fervor, of unim- 
peachable veracity and of the strictest integrity. But a careful 
study of his life, as revealed by himself, and as it has been writ- 
ten by his personal friends and his friendly biographers, may 
well result in a different interpretation of the man's character 
and actions. 

John Brown was born at Torrington, Connecticut, May 9, 
1800 ; but he was not, as he claimed to be, "the sixth descendant 
of Peter Browne of the Mayflower." The Peter Brown to 
whom John Brown's ancestry has been traced, was bom in 
Windsor, Connecticut, in 1632, as Mr. Villard shows in very 
scholarly fashion. 16 The Peter Browne of the Mayflower left 
no male issue ; nor does John Brown's name appear upon the 
rolls of the "Massachusetts Society of Mayflower Descend- 
ants." 17 His grandfather was a captain in the Eighteenth 
Connecticut Infantry, in the Revolutionary Army. The father 

16 Villard, 10. 

17 Villard, 591, note 6. 



28 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 

of John Brown — Owen Brown — was a faithful, industrious 
citizen who for a livelihood followed the occupation of shoe- 
maker, tanner, and farmer. John learned the tannery trade and 
began work when he was fifteen, and for the greater part of 
the ensuing five years was employed as a foreman in his father's 
factory at Hudson, Ohio. 

On June 21, 1820, he was married to Miss Dianthe Lusk, 
the daughter of his housekeeper. She became the mother of 
seven children ; one of whom — Frederick — was killed at Osa- 
watomie. Her death occurred August 10, 1832; three days 
after the birth of a son ; mother and son being buried together. 
A second marriage was contracted on July 11, 1833, his bride 
being Miss Mary Anne Day, daughter of Charles Day of 
Whitehall, New York. Thirteen children were born of this 
union ; seven of whom died in early childhood ; two — Watson 
and Oliver — were killed at Harper's Ferry. 

As a tanner, at Hudson, Brown was successful, but he gave 
up his business there and moved to Richmond, Pennsylvania, 
in May, 1825, where he established a tannery. He was ap- 
pointed postmaster at Richmond in 1828, and held the office 
until he moved to Franklin Mills, Ohio, in 1835. He left 
Richmond ''because of financial distress." 18 At Franklin Mills, 
he secured a contract for building the Ohio and Pennsylvania 
Canal from there to Akron. The next year, he undertook some 
speculations in real estate, and in company with a Mr. Thomp- 
son, borrowed $7,000 with which to buy a tract of one hundred 
acres, for an "addition to Franklin." During the same year, 
he, with others, organized the Franklin Land Company, and 
purchased the water power, mills, lands, etc., in both the "up- 
per" and "lower" Franklin villages, combining the two water 
powers at a central town-site, which he and his associates laid 
out. 19 In these, and other schemes, Brown became so deeply 

18 Villard, 26. 
™Ibid. 



THE MAN 29 

involved that he failed during the bad times of 1837 ; lost nearly 
all his property by assignment to his creditors, and was then 
not able to pay all his debts, some of which were never liqui- 
dated. His father also lost heavily through him. 20 

His failure in business should not of itself count against him, 
but some of the methods which he employed to extricate him- 
self from his financial embarrassment, were of a most fraudu- 
lent and criminal character. July 11, 1836, he applied to 
Heman Oviatt and others, to become security for him on a note 
for $6,000 to the Western Reserve Bank. The note was not 
paid, and the bank got judgment against the makers in May, 
1837. August 2d, the judgment debtors gave a joint judg- 
ment bond for the amount of the judgment against them, pay- 
able in sixty days. The bond not being paid, the bank sued 
again, and Oviatt had to pay the bank in full. The nature of 
the wrong done to Mr. Oviatt by Brown is described by Mr. 
Villard on pages 37 and 38. He relates that at the time of this 
transaction, Brown had a "penal bond of conveyance," but not 
the title, for a piece of property known as "Westlands," which 
he assigned to Oviatt, as collateral for Oviatt's having endorsed 
the judgment bond to the bank. When the deed to the West- 
lands property was duly given to Brown, he recorded it, with- 
out notifying Oviatt of this action. Later, he mortgaged the 
property to two men, again without the knowledge of Heman 
Oviatt. Meanwhile, Daniel G. Gaylord had recovered a judg- 
ment against Brown in another transaction, and to satisfy it 
caused the sale of Westlands by the sheriff. By collusion with 
Brown, the property was bought in at the sale, by his friend, a 
former business associate, Amos P. Chamberlain. Oviatt 
"brought suit to have the sale of Westlands to Chamberlain set 
aside as fraudulent, but the Supreme Court of Ohio held that 
Chamberlain had a rightful title, and dismissed the suit. John 
Brown himself was not directly sued by Oviatt, being, to use 

20 Villard, 28. 



30 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 

a lawyer's term, 'legally safe' throughout the entire transac- 
tion. . . Even after this lapse of years his action in se- 
cretly recording the transfer of the land, and then mortgaging 
it, bears an unpleasant aspect." 21 Meanwhile, the parties to the 
fraud upon Oviatt quarreled. Brown refused to give up occu- 
pation of the land to Chamberlain ; assuming that Chamberlain 
had not treated him fairly in the matter; and held possession 
of the property, in "a shanty on the place, by force of arms, 
until compelled to desist by the sheriff. . ." Finally, the 
sheriff arrested Brown and two sons, John and Owen, who were 
thereupon placed in the Akron jail. Chamberlain, having de- 
stroyed the shanty which Brown had occupied, and obtained 
possession of the land, allowed the case to drop, and Brown and 
his sons were released. 22 Mr. Sanborn, on page 55, disposes 
of the matter in this way : 

The affair is explained by his son John as follows : "The 
farm father lost by endorsing a note for a friend. It was 
attached and sold by the Sheriff at the County seat. The 
only bidder against my father was an old neighbor, hitherto 
regarded as a friend, who became the purchaser. Father's 
lawyer advised him to hold the fort for a time at least, and 
endeavor to secure terms from the purchaser. There was, 
as I remember, an old shot gun in the house, but it was not 
loaded nor pointed at any one. No Sheriff came on the 
premises ; no officer or posse was resisted ; no threat of vio- 
lence offered." 

Brown was not so staid and prosaic in his daily walk and 
conversation as to be indifferent to the sports and amusements 
of life. He seems to have been simply an active man of the 
world, getting as much worldly enjoyment for himself out of 
his environment as possible. He was a horseman with a fancy 
for horse racing; and while at Franklin, indulged in the very 
interesting and sportsmanlike business, or diversion, of breed- 

21 Villard. 38. 

22 For a full account of this, see Villard, 37-41. 



THE MAN 31 

ing "fast running horses for racing purposes." He bred from 
a well known horse of that time called "Count Piper" ; and the 
name of another favorite sire was "John McDonald." He is 
said to have dismissed criticism of his conduct from a moral 
point of view, by the argument that "if he did not breed them 
some one else would." 23 

From 1837 to 1841 Brown lived alternately at Franklin, and 
at Hudson, Ohio. In 1838 he became a "drover," and drove 
cattle from Ohio to Connecticut. In this business he had 
trouble with his associates, Tertius Wadsworth and Joseph 
Wells, who furnished the capital ; and was sued by them for an 
accounting. 24 In December, 1838, "he negotiated for the 
agency of a New York Steel Scythes house." And in January, 
1839, he made his first venture in sheep, at West Hartford, 
Connecticut. He brought the sheep to Albany by boat, and 
drove them from there to Ohio. In June of that year he made 
his final drive to the east with cattle, and, while at New Hart- 
ford, committed a crime of unusual enormity. It appears that 
he proposed to the New England Woolen Company, of Rock- 
ville, Connecticut, to act as its agent in buying wool, and in- 
duced it to intrust to him $2,800 with which to begin purchas- 
ing*the wool. The negotiations for this money were a decep- 
tion throughout, in pursuance of theft. Brown did not intend 
to buy any wool with the money which he sought to have in- 
trusted to his keeping for that purpose ; but did intend to con- 
vert it to his own use — to make "a much brighter day" in his 
affairs. He also deceived his wife, whom he caused to believe 
that he was trying to secure a loan. Nor did he hesitate to 
have the crime, which he was committing, called to the attention 
of the God whom he pretended to serve, but asked her to ask 
"God's blessing" upon him in his pursuit of this purpose. 
Greater hypocrisy and depravity hath no man than this. The 

23 Sanborn, 69. 
2 *Villard, 37. 



32 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 

letter which he wrote to his wife in relation to the transaction 

is as follows : 25 

New Hartford, 12th June, 1839. 
My Dear Wife and Children: 

I write to let you know that I am in comfortable health, 
and that I expect to be on my way home in the course of a 
week should nothing befall me. If I am longer detained I 
will write you again. The cattle business has succeeded 
about as I expected, but I am now somewhat in fear that I 
shall fail in getting the money I expected on the loan. Should 
that be the will of Providence I know of no other way but 
we must consider ourselves very poor for our debts must be 
paid, if paid at a sacrifice. Should that happen (though it 
may not) I hope God who is rich in mercy, will grant us all 
grace to conform to our circumstances with cheerfulness and 
resignation. I want to see each of my dear family very much 
but must wait God's time. Try all of you to do the best you 
can, and do not one of you be discouraged — tomorrow may 
be a much brighter day. Cease not to ask God's blessing on 
yourselves and me. Keep this letter wholly to yourselves, 
excepting that I expect to start home soon, and that I did not 
write confidently about my success should any one enquire. 
Edmond is well and Owen Mills. You may show this to 
father but to no one else. 

I am not without great hopes of getting relief, I would 
not have you understand, but things have looked more un- 
favorable for a few days. I think I shall write you again 
before I start. 

Earnestly commending every one of you to God, and to his 
mercy, which endureth forever, I remain your affectionate 
husband and father, John Brown. 

This beautiful letter, written to his wife in relation to the 
prosecution of a criminal design, stands as a study of John 
Brown which the student may well contemplate with profit. It 

" Villard, 30. 



THE MAN 33 

is written in the attractive style, and in the spiritual language 
characteristic of Brown's correspondence. It is strikingly sim- 
ilar to the letters that he gave out from the Charlestown jail, 
which, in their apparently devotional simplicity, and humble 
sincerity and trust in the mercy of God, won for him there his 
"victory over death." This letter was a dissimulation, the 
proof of which lies in the consummation of the negotiations for 
the money; and in the appropriation of it to his own use, at a 
time when he was hopelessly involved. It is a real key to the 
history of his life ; it discloses his true character, and shatters to 
fragments every hypothesis that Brown was either sincere, de- 
vout, or honest. 

"Three days after the receipt of this letter," Mr. Villard 
relates, "Brown received from the New England Woolen Com- 
pany at Rockville, Conn., twenty-eight hundred dollars, through 
its agent George Kellogg, for the purchase of wool, which 
money, regretfully enough, he pledged for his own benefit and 
was then unable to redeem. Fortunately for him the Company 
exercised leniency toward him." 26 Later it permitted him to 
go through bankruptcy, upon the condition that he would en- 
deavor to repay the money. Brown's letter in acknowledg- 
ment of the "great kindness" to him therein, is as follows: 27 

Richfield, Octo. 17, 1842. 
Whereas I, John Brown, on or about the 15th day of June 
1839, received from the New England Company (through 
their Agent George Kellogg, Esq.) the sum of twenty-eight 
hundred dollars for the purchase of wool for said Company, 
and imprudently pledged the same for my own benefit, and 
could not redeem it; and whereas I have been legally dis- 
charged from my obligations by the laws of the United States 
— I hereby agree in consideration of the great kindness and 
tenderness of said Company toward me in my calamity, and 

26 Villard, 30. 

27 Sanborn, 55. 



34 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 

more particularly of the moral obligation I am under to ren- 
der them their due, to pay the same and interest thereon, 
from time to time, as Divine Providence shall enable me to do. 
Witness my hand and seal. - John Brown. 

To Mr. Kellogg, agent for the woolen company, he wrote : 

Richfield, Summit County, Ohio, Octo. 17, 1842. 
George Kellogg, Esq. 

Dear Sir — I have just received information of my final 
discharge as a bankrupt in the District Court, and I ought to 
be grateful that no one of my creditors has made any opposi- 
tion to such discharge being given. I shall now if my life is 
continued, have an opportunity of proving the sincerity of my 
past professions, when legally free to act as I choose. I am 
sorry to say that in consequence of the unforeseen expense of 
getting the discharge, the loss of an ox, and the destitute 
condition in which a new surrender of my effects has placed 
me, with my numerous family, I fear this year must pass 
without my effecting in the way of payment what I have en- 
couraged you to expect (notwithstanding I have been gen- 
erally prosperous in my business for the season). 
Respectfully your unworthy friend, 

John Brown. 

To Mr. Villard the public owes its obligation for the quite 
complete history of this transaction. Mr. Sanborn, in his rec- 
ord of it, saw fit to suppress the letter of June 12, 1839. He, 
evidently, garbled the correspondence relating to this criminal 
incident in Brown's life, with the intention of practicing a de- 
ception upon the public. Commenting upon the two letters of 
October 17, 1842, he said : 28 

These papers show the real integrity of Brown, in a trans- 
action in which he might have escaped the obligation which 
he thus assumed. 

That Brown promised restitution of the money herein, as a 
means to forestall criminal proceedings against him; and gave 
28 Sanborn, 56. 



THE MAN 35 

the above acknowledgment of the debt, and renewed promise to 
pay, as a condition precedent to being permitted to go into the 
court of bankruptcy, is evident from the two preceding letters. 
It is also apparent from his letter to Mr. Kellogg, that he did 
not intend to fulfill the promises he had made. At his death, 
"this debt, like many others, was still unpaid." notwithstanding 
the fact that two years after his proceedings in bankruptcy he 
became prosperous, "with the most trying financial periods of 
his life behind him." 29 

With money in his pocket wherewith to commence life anew, 
Brown conceived the idea of leaving that part of the country 
and settling in Virginia, upon land 30 belonging to Oberlin Col- 
lege. He probably obtained information concerning the land 
from his father, who was a trustee of the college. On April 1, 
1840, he appeared before a committee of the trustees, and 
opened negotiations with it for an agreement to survey the Vir- 
ginia land, and to purchase some of it. Two days later he sub- 
mitted a proposal "to visit, survey and make the necessary in- 
vestigation respecting the boundaries, etc. of these lands, for 
one dollar per day, and a modest allowance for necessary ex- 
penses." He also stated that this was to be a preliminary step 
towards locating thereon, with his family, "should the opening 
prove a favorable one," and in the event of his so locating, he 
was to receive one thousand acres of the land. The trustees 
promptly accepted his offer, and the treasurer was ordered to 
furnish him with "a Commission and Needful outfit," 31 which 
was done the same day. He immediately proceeded to Vir- 
ginia and entered upon his duties. April 27th he wrote to his 
wife from Ripley, Virginia: 

I have seen the spot where, if it be the will of Providence. 
I hope one day to live with my family. 

29 Villard, 31. 

30 Now in Doddridge and Tyler Counties, West Virginia. 

31 Villard, 31. 

3 



36 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 

July 14, 1840, he filed his report, and on August 11th he was 
notified that the prudential committee of the trustees had been 
authorized by the board to "perfect negotiations, and convey 
to Brother John Brown, of Hudson, Ohio, one thousand acres 
of our Virginia land, on conditions suggested in the correspond- 
ence between him and the committee." Replying to the letter 
January 2, 1841, he wrote : 

... I feel prepared to say definitely that I expect, 
Providence willing, to accept the proposal of your Board. 
. . . I shall expect to receive a thousand acres of land 
in a body, that will include a living spring of water discharg- 
ing itself at a height sufficient to accommodate a tannery 
as I shall expect to pursue that business on a small scale if 
I go. . . 

The trustees meanwhile, for reasons which have not been 
made public, changed their minds on the subject, and Brown's 
letter to their Mr. Burnell of February 5, 1841, reaffirming his 
intention to accept the land, as proposed, was never answered. 32 
Failing in his effort to establish himself in Virginia, he en- 
gaged in the sheep raising industry, in the spring of 1841, in 
company with Captain Oviatt, at Richfield, Ohio. He was 
successful and "gradually became known as a winner of prizes 
for sheep, and cattle at the annual fairs, in Summit County." 
By 1844 he had gained the reputation of a successful wool 
grower, and in that year formed "a partner-ship with Simon 
Perkins, Jr. of Akron, Ohio, with a view to carry on the sheep 
business extensively." 33 He moved to Akron April 10th of 
that year. Concerning his home at Akron, Mr. Villard says : 
They occupied a cottage on what is still known as Per- 
kins Hill, near Simon Perkins own home, with an extensive 
and charming view over hill and dale — an ideal sheep coun- 
try, and a location which must have attracted any one save a 
predisposed wanderer. 

32 Villard, 32-33. 

33 Villard, 34. 



THE MAX 37 

Two years later it was decided to establish a headquarters at 
Springfield, Massachusetts. There Brown went "to reside as 
one of the firm of Perkins and Brown, agents of the sheep- 
fanners and wool merchants in northern Ohio. Pennsylvania, 
Xew \ ork and Virginia, whose interests then required an 
agency to stand between them and the wool manufacturers of 
Xew England, to whom they sold their fleeces." M 

Of this arrangement Mr. Villard says on page 35: "John 
Brown was within bounds in thus exulting: even though the 
Perkins partner-ship resulted eventually in severe losses and 
dissolution. At least it was a connection with a high minded 
and prosperous man. and it lasted ten years. When it was 
over, the partners were still friends, but Mr. Perkins did nor re- 
tain a high opinion of John Brown's abilitv or sagacity as a 
business man." Mr. Sanborn states on page 57. that when Mr. 
Perkins was questioned by him. in 1878, about Brown's wool 
growing and wool dealing, he replied: "The less you can say 
about them the better." 

As to the business, there seems to have been trouble from the 
commencement of it. Mr. Villard says on page 60: "More- 
over some customers had just grievances, for the letter book 
contains far too many apologies for failure to acknowledge let- 
ters and shipments, and to make out accurate accounts, for so 
young a firm." 

In August. 1849, Brown made his historic trip to London to 
superintend, personally, the sale of wool, which he had shipped 
to that market, because he could not obtain prices that were sat- 
isfactory to him from the manufacturers of woolens in his home 
market. The amount of wool so consigned was about two 
hundred thousand pounds. The Northampton Woolen Mills 
Company of Northampton, Massachusetts, had bid sixty cents 
a pound for this wool at Springfield. In London. September 
17th, a lot of one hundred and fifty bales of it was sold for 

34 Sanborn, 64. 



38 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 

twenty-six to twenty-nine cents per pound. The buyer was 
the "Northampton Woolen Mills Co., of Mass., U. S. A." 
Brown returned home in October "bringing back with him the 
portion of the wool which he had been unable to sell. The loss 
on this venture was probably as high as $40,000." 36 The firm 
of Perkins and Brown then began proceedings in liquidation, 
which had been under consideration for some time before 
Brown made the trip to Europe. The losses sustained by the 
company were upon a large scale. Suits against them were 
brought for more than one hundred thousand dollars. 37 

In 1850 Brown contemplated engaging in the manufacture 
of wine upon a large scale ; and on December 4th, wrote to his 
sons to send him some samples of the wines they had made. 
He said : "I want Jason to obtain from Mr. Perkins, or any- 
where he can get them, two good Junk bottles, have them thor- 
oughly cleaned, and filled with cherry wine, being very careful 
not to roil it up before filling the bottles, — providing good 
corks, and filling them perfectly full. These I want him to 
pack safely in a very small strong box, which he can make, 
direct them to Perkins & Brown, Springfield, Mass., and send 
them by express. We can affect something to purpose by pro- 
ducing unadulterated domestic wines. They will command 
great prices." 38 

In 1846, Gerrit Smith, a wealthy philanthropist of Peterboro, 
New York, set aside one hundred and twenty thousand acres of 
his large estate in northern New York, to be divided up into 
farms, and given, without charge, to worthy colored people 
who would settle upon them and improve them for their per- 
manent homes. Brown heard of this proposition in course of 
time, and made a proposal to Mr. Smith to settle among the 
negroes on these lands, and aid them by precept and example 

33 For an interesting account of this transaction, see Sanborn, 67-68. 
36 Villard, 63. 
3'Villard, 64-66. 
38 Sanborn, 78. 



THE MAN 39 

in their efforts at home building. In consideration of this, it 
is probable that Brown secured title to some land on equal terms 
with the negroes, and possibly secured options on other tracts, 
at satisfactory prices and terms of payment. His experience 
with the Oberlin College people in relation to the Virginia 
lands, heretofore referred to, was probably of service to him in 
this transaction with Smith. The tracts which he selected 
were at Timbuctoo, or North Elba, and in the spring of 1849 
he located his family upon the land ; but in March, 1851, moved 
back to Akron. Brown himself did not go to North Elba to 
live. His time was taken up in liquidating the tangled affairs 
of Perkins and Brown, and with the extensive litigation in- 
volved in the settlement of them. 

Litigation seems to have been a constant and conspicuous 
feature of Brown's commercial life. Mr. Villard says 39 that 
"on the records of the Portage County Court of Common Pleas 
are no less than twenty-one lawsuits in which John Brown fig- 
ured as defendant during the years 1820 to 1845. Of these, 
thirteen were actions brought to recover money loaned on prom- 
issory notes either to Brown singly or in company with others. 
The remaining suits were mostly claims for wages, or payments 
due, or for nonfulfillment of contracts. . . In ten other 
cases he was successfully sued and judgments were obtained 
against him individually or jointly with others. In three cases 
those who sued him were non-suited as being without real cause 
for action, and two other cases were settled out of court. Four 
cases Brown won, among them being a suit for damages for 
false arrest and assault and battery, brought by an alleged horse 
thief, because Brown, and other citizens, had aided a constable 
in arresting him. A number of these suits grew out of Brown's 
failure in his real estate speculations. A serious litigation was 
an action brought by the Bank of Wooster to recover on a Bill 
of Exchange, drawn by Brown and others, on the Leather 

s 9 Villard, 36-37. 



40 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 

Manufacturers Bank of New York, and repudiated by that in- 
stitution on the ground that Brown and his associates had no 
money in the bank. During the suit the amount claimed was 
rapidly reduced, and when the judgment was rendered against 
him it was for $917.65. . . In 1845 Daniel C. Gaylord, 
who several times had sued Brown, succeeded in compelling 
him and his associates to convey to him certain Franklin lands, 
which they had contracted to sell, but the title for which they 
refused to convey. The court upheld Gaylord's claim. The 
only case in which Brown figured as plaintiff was settled out of 
court." This is consistently a bad record. 

The year 1854 brought the settlement of Kansas to the front 
and the wrecked and practically penniless Browns decided to 
emigrate to the new Territory. Not with the "ax and gun'' 
went they, as will be seen, but with the ax, and with the hope of 
bettering their condition. The necessity for the gun was de- 
veloped later — in 1855 — and by the Free-State men who had 
preceded the Browns into the Territory. 

It seems the family planned to establish a little colony or 
group of farms — "Brownsville" — and that while the sons 
were to be engaged in opening up the farms, the father would 
try to earn some money in surveying, which would be a very 
grateful and necessary assistance to them while struggling with 
the many discouraging incidents which usually befell the im- 
pecunious preemptor. That such were their conclusions ap- 
pears from a letter which Brown wrote February 13, 1855, to 
Mr. John W. Cook, of Wolcottville, Connecticut. He said : 40 
"Since I saw you I have undertaken to direct the operations of 
a Surveying & exploring party, to be employed in Kansas for a 
considerable time perhaps for some Two or Three years; & I 
lack for time to make all my arrangements, and get on the 
ground in season." In pursuance of his intention to move to 
Kansas, he relocated with his family on the North Elba farm. 

40 Villard, 84. 



THE MAN 41 

This review of Brown's career discloses a life spent, thus far, 
in a series of strenuous struggles with various problems, cover- 
ing a wide range in the field of commercial activity. All his 
efforts had ended in disappointment and failure. The removal 
to North Elba marks his retirement, in defeat, from the world 
of trade, and finds him, as the result of his failures, living with 
his dependent family upon a small tract of mountain land, of 
little value, that had been given to him as a condition of his set- 
tlement thereon. They had "moved into an unplastered four- 
room house, the rudest kind of a pioneer home, built for him by 
his son-in-law, Henry Thompson, who had married his daugh- 
ter Ruth." 41 

What Brown's religious belief was is problematical. He 
was a student of the Bible, and, as he said, "possessed a most 
unusual memory of its entire contents." The Book, as a whole, 
was his creed, and upon its teachings he placed his personal in- 
terpretations. He spoke and wrote, when he so desired, in its 
phraseology; and by this distinction, in contradiction of the 
character of his actions, he gained a reputation for being a 
Christian. He may have been a Presbyterian, as has been said : 
or he may have been a Methodist, as has also been stated ; and 
there is equal authority for the statement that he belonged to 
the Congregational church; but, it would seem that if he had 
been a consistent member of any of these churches, his historic 
name would have been proudly borne upon the rolls of member- 
ship, in the congregations to which he belonged ; and the fact 
of his membership therein clearly established. It would fur- 
ther seem that he would have stated the fact of such member- 
ship in connection with what he did say, in 1857, in relation to 
his religious experience. It appears however, that while as- 
suming to believe firmly in the divine authenticity of the Bible, 
he had become only to "some extent a convert to Christianity." 
There is no evidence that he ever attended public worship in 

41 Villard, 76. 



42 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 

Kansas, or at any place during the latter years of his life, or that 
he engaged in prayer. Also, it would seem, that if he had been 
"a student at Morris Academy" in either 1816 or 1819, as a 
preparation for college — Amherst — with an ultimate purpose 
so creditable as "entering the ministry," he would have referred 
to the fact, incidentally at least, in his Autobiography, which 
treats specifically of his education. 42 

The Rev. H. D. King of Kinsman, Ohio, met Brown fre- 
quently at Tabor, Iowa, during August and September, 1857. 
He probably regarded him as an infidel, but did not wish to say 
so. "He was rather skeptical, I think," he said; "not an in- 
fidel, but not bound by creeds. He was somewhat cranky on 
the subject of the Bible as he was on that of killing people." 43 
In the last letter which Brown wrote to his family, November 
30, 1859, two days before his execution, he said : 44 

I must yet insert the reason for my firm belief in the Bible, 
notwithstanding I am, perhaps, naturally skeptical — certain- 
ly not credulous. . . It is the purity of heart, filling our 
minds as well as work and actions, which is everywhere in- 
sisted on, that distinguishes it from all other teachings, that 
commends it to my conscience. . . 
The late Mr. George B. Gill of Kansas, who was a member 

42 Brown relates : "From fifteen to twenty years old, he spent most of 
his time at the Tanner & Currier's trade keeping Bachelor's hall; & he of- 
ficiating as Cook ; & for most of the time as foreman of the establishment 
under his Father. During this time he found much trouble with some of 
the bad habits I have mentioned: . . . but his close attention to 
business; & success in its management; together with the way he got 
along with a company of men & boys made him quite a favorite ; . . . 
From Fifteen years and upward he felt a good deal of anxiety to learn ; 
but could only read & study a little ; both for want of time ; & on account 
of inflamation of the eyes. He however managed by the help of books 
to make himself tolerably well acquainted with common Arithmetic; 
& Surveying: which he practiced more or less after he was Twenty years 
old." — Appendix, IV. 

« Villard, 299. 

44 Sanborn, 614. 



THE MAN 43 

of Brown's cabinet — secretary of the treasury — said of him : 
"He was very human. The angel wings were so dim and shad- 
owy as to be almost unseen." 

Brown's younger sons were infidels. They had "discovered 
the Bible to be all fiction." 45 To the Sabbath day and its 
sanctity, he was indifferent. In violation of the stricter con- 
ventions, which prevailed at that time, concerning the observ- 
ance of it as "Holy unto the Lord," he committed the principal 
crimes incident to his career, wholly or in part, on the Sabbath. 
A part of the murders and thefts on the Pottawatomie were 
committed on Sunday morning, May 25, 1856. Returning to 
Kansas from Nebraska City (August 9th and 10th) half the 
journey was made on Sunday, August 10th. "On August 24," 
1856 (Sunday), "the Brown and Cline companies set out for 
the South, marching eight miles and camping on Sugar 
Creek." 46 Sunday night, October 16, 1859, was the time fixed 
for the insurrection of the slaves to occur, and on that night. 
in pursuance of his plans, he occupied Harper's Ferry. 

Brown was averse to military operations, and military af- 
fairs. He refused to drill with the local militia, paying the 
fines instead, which were imposed by law for such delinquen- 
cies. In political matters he affiliated with the Abolitionists, 
or with those of the party who were "non-resistants." 47 

The statements which have been put forth in support of the 
assumption that Brown's life was a devotion to the Anti- 
Slavery cause — a series of abnormal activities in opposition to 
slavery — are not confirmed, nor can they be justified by any 
contemporaneous evidence. For notwithstanding the persist- 
ent, if not offensive, insistence of his biographers to the con- 
trary ; and the pages without number which have been written in 
support of such insistence, the record of his life is practically 

45 Sanborn, 46. 

46 Villard, 236. 

47 Mason Report, 72. Testimony of Wm. F. Amy. 



44 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 

barren in relation to the subject. There is not a scrap of con- 
current evidence which, even remotely, suggests that prior to 
1855 he might have taken more than a most ordinary interest 
in securing freedom for the slaves. Even in his letter of that 
year to Mr. John W. Cook (note 40), informing him of his in- 
tention to go to Kansas, and of his motive for going thereto, he 
made no reference to the subject whatever. A statement of 
everything which Brown did, or that he attempted to do up to 
that year, in opposition to slavery, may be republished in this 
book without encumbering its pages. It will therefore be 
given. 

In 1857, after Brown had ceased to be a non-resistant, and 
was in the East professionally advocating war in Kansas; he 
wrote that during the late war with England an incident "oc- 
curred that made him a most determined Abolitionist : & led 
him to declare or Swear: Eternal war with Slavery." But Mr. 
Villard, having the infant Pardigles prodigy in mind, makes the 
point that "the oaths of a lad of such tender years do not often 
become the guiding force of maturity." A Mr. Blakesley, with 
whom Brown, before his marriage, kept bachelor's hall, relates 
that one evening a runaway slave came to their door, and asked 
for food, which was given him freely. John Brown, Jr., relates 
the same, or a similar, incident as occurring eight years later. 
The dramatic settings in each case are practically similar : 
Night ! Sound of horses' feet approaching ! Flight of fugi- 
tive, or fugitives, into the adjacent timber! False alarm! 
Subsequent search for, and locating of the fugitive "by the 
sound of the beating of his heart!" Finale: "Brown swears 
eternal enmity to slavery!" 48 Both of the tales are of the 
legendary type common to Brown literature. Mr. Blakesley's 
story is probably in part, true, but whether either of them, or 
both of them, be true is without significance. It would indeed 
have been difficult to find a person living in the North at that 

48 Villard, 18, and Sanborn, 35. 



THE MAN 45 

time, who would have refused a poor fugitive slave the measure 
of assistance asked for in this case. 

On another occasion Brown is represented as taking the 
members of his family into his confidence, and enlisting them 
for life in the "eternal war" which he is said to have been per- 
sonally waging; taking the precaution to swear them to se- 
crecy. Jason Brown states that they were "merely sworn to do 
all in their power to abolish slavery," and does not use the word 
"force." 49 But as related by John Brown, Jr., the occasion 
was much more dramatic and far reaching. He says : 50 

It is, of course, impossible for me to say when such idea 
and plan first entered his (John Brown's) mind and became 
a purpose ; but I can say with certainty that he first informed 
his family that he entertained such purpose while we were 
yet living in Franklin, O. (now called Kent), and before he 
went to Virginia, in 1840, to survey the lands which had been 
donated by Arthur Tappan to Oberlin College ; and this was 
certainly as early as 1839. The place and the circumstances 
where he first informed us of that purpose are as perfectly in 
my memory as any other event in my life. Father, mother, 
Jason, Owen and I were, late in the evening, seated around 
the fire in the open fire-place of the kitchen, in the old Hay- 
maker house where we then lived ; and there he first informed 
us of his determination to make war on slavery — not such 
war as Mr. Garrison informs us "was equally the purpose 
of the non-resistant abolitionists," but war by force and arms. 
He said that he had long entertained such a purpose — that 
he believed it his duty to devote his life, if need be, to this 
object, which he made us fully to understand. After spend- 
ing considerable time in setting forth in most impressive lan- 
guage the hopeless condition of the slave, he asked who of us 
were willing to make common cause with him in doing all 
in our power to "break the jaws of the wicked and pluck the 
spoil out of his teeth," naming each of us in succession. Are 

49 Villard, 45. 

50 Ibid. 



46 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 

you, Mary, John, Jason, and Owen ? Receiving- an affirma- 
tive answer from each, he kneeled in prayer, and all did the 
same. This posture in prayer impressed me greatly as it was 
the first time I had ever known him to assume it. After 
prayer he asked us to raise our right hands, and he then ad- 
ministered to us an oath, the exact terms of which I cannot 
recall, but in substance it bound us to secrecy and devotion to 
the purpose of fighting slavery by force and arms to the ex- 
tent of our ability. 

Referring to this incident Mr. Villard says : 51 "It must be 
noted here that in this letter John Brown, Jr., gives the date of 
the oath as 1839; in his lengthy affidavit in the case of Gerrit 
Smith against the Chicago Tribune, he gave the date as 1836, 
three years earlier, and in an account given in Mr. Sanborn's 
book he placed it at 1837; three distinct times for the same 
event. It can, therefore, best be stated as occurring before 
1840." 

In the opinion of the writer, it could, perhaps, "best be 
stated" as not having occurred at all. As has been heretofore 
stated, Brown was at that time a non-resistant, and there is no 
concurrent evidence that he treasured a thought of using force 
against slavery until after Robinson suggested it by arming the 
Free-State men in Kansas in the spring of 1855. The incident 
may therefore be considered as apocryphal. It is a part of the 
mass of legendary literature that has overwhelmed Brown's 
"simple, noble memory." 

The improvisation of these two incidents, shows the strait in 
which John Brown, Jr., was placed, when called upon, by Mr. 
Sanborn, to narrate some of the incidents occurring in the 
course of his father's anti-slavery activities. There being none, 
nothing whatever to tell, he filched the Blakesley incident and 
related it as one occurring under his personal observation, and 
put it forth along with the fiction concerning the dramatic func- 
5i Villard, 45. 



THE MAN 47 

tion just related, to relieve himself from an embarrassing situ- 
ation. 

In a letter written nearly twenty years after the Blakesley 
incident is said to have occurred. Brown disclosed the character 
of the "eternal war" which he really proposed to wage, if any, 
against slavery. It was to "get at least one negro boy or youth 
and bring him up as we do our own, — give him a good English 
education, learn him what we can about the history of the 
world, about business, about general subjects, and, above all, 
try to teach him the fear of God." In the same letter he seeks 
to interest his brother — Frederick — in a school for blacks 
which he wanted to open at Randolph. He thought "if the 
young blacks of our country could once become enlightened, it 
would most assuredly operate on slavery like firing powder 
confined in a rock." Incidentally, he intended to own the 
school, and thought it would pay. 52 

While the suggestion to attack slavery in the manner out- 
lined in this letter is the first recorded movement, or act of ag- 
gression, in the much talked of eternal war ; and while it may 
be regarded as a sort of opening gun ; though not a loud one, 
the proposal contained therein may be considered merely as be- 
ing a commercial venture, for pecuniary profit, that he desired 
to engage in, rather than as a scheme in negro philanthropy. 
He thought the venture would be profitable, and offered to di- 
vide the profits arising from it with his brother upon terms that 
"shall be fair." Also it may be stated that at the time he made 
this proposal he was in the toils of insolvency. Six months 
later he left Randolph in straitened circumstances. It is there- 
fore probable that he was moved to suggest the opening of a 
school for blacks by personal considerations, and that but for 
such reasons the letter containing the proposal would not have 
been written. 

In 1848, while a resident of Springfield, Massachusetts, 

52 Villard, 43-44. 



48 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 

Brown wrote some articles reflecting upon the negro character ; 
criticising negroes because of their vanity and shiftlessness. 
They were written under the caption: "Sambo's Mistakes," 
and were published in the Ram's Horn, a newspaper conducted 
by negroes, in New York. They do not relate to slavery. 53 

In 1850 he made the first, and, it may be said, the only no- 
ticeable effort in behalf of the anti-slavery cause, that is re- 
corded of him prior to 1854. The Fugitive Slave Law, enacted 
by the Thirty-first Congress, provided for the use of all the 
forces of the Department of Justice, to effect the arrest of fugi- 
tives from slavery, and the restoration of them to their masters. 
Brown conceived the idea of uniting the free negroes and fugi- 
tive slaves in an organization to resist the enforcement of the 
provisions of this law. The society was to be called "The 
United States League of Gileadites." The plan failed; the en- 
rollment so far as known was confined to the Springfield, Mass- 
achusetts, branch, which numbered fifty-three members. 54 But 
the activities therein undertaken were strictly defensive in their 
character; they were not directed against slavery, but for the 
personal protection of fugitive slaves and free negroes living 
in the Northern States. His letter of advice to the Gileadites 
is, in part, as follows : 55 

WORDS OF ADVICE 

"Union is Strength" 

Nothing so charms the American people as personal brav- 
ery. Witness the case of Cinques, of everlasting memory, 
on board the "Amistad." The trial for life of one bold and 
to some extent successful man, for defending his rights in 
good earnest, would arouse more sympathy throughout the 
nation than the accumulated wrongs and sufferings of more 
than three millions of our submissive colored population. 



ssVillard, 659-661. 

54 Sanborn, 127. 

55 Sanborn, 124-125. 



THE MAN 49 

We need not mention the Greeks struggling against the op- 
pressive Turks, the Poles against Russia, nor the Hungarians 
against Austria and Russia combined, to prove this. No jury 
can be found in the Northern States that would convict a man 
for defending his rights to the last extremity. This is well 
understood by Southern Congressmen, zvho insisted that the 
right of trial by jury should not be granted to the fugitive. 
Colored people have ten times the number of fast friends 
among the whites than they suppose, and would have ten 
times the number they now have were they but half as much 
in earnest to secure their dearest rights as they are to ape the 
follies and extravagances of their luxury. Just think of the 
money expended by individuals in your behalf in the past 
twenty years ! Think of the number who have been mobbed 
and imprisoned on your account ! Have any of you seen the 
Branded Hand? Do you remember the names of Lovejoy 
and Torrey? 

Should one of your number be arrested, you must collect 
together as quickly as possible, so as to outnumber your ad- 
versaries who are taking an active part against you. Let 
no able-bodied man appear on the ground unequipped, or with 
his weapons exposed to view ; let that be understood before- 
hand. Your plans must be known only to yourself, and with 
the understanding that all traitors must die, wherever caught 
and proven to be guilty. "Whosoever is fearful or afraid, let 
him return and depart early from Mount Gilead" (Judges, 
vii. 3 ; Deut. xx. 8) . Give all cowards an opportunity to 
show it on condition of holding their peace. Do not delay 
one moment after you are ready; you will lose all your resolu- 
tion if you do. Let the first blow be the signal for all to en- 
gage; and when engaged do not do your work by halves, but 
make clean work with your enemies, and be sure you meddi'e 
not zvith any others. By going about your business quietly, 
you will get the job disposed of before the number that an 
uproar would bring together can collect; and you will have 
the advantage of those who come out against you, for they 
will be wholly unprepared with either equipments or matured 



50 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 

plans ; all with them will be confusion and terror. Your 
enemies will be slow to attack you after you have done up the 
work nicely ; and if they should, they will have to encounter 
your white friends as well as you ; for you may safely calcu- 
late on a division of the whites, and may by that means get 
to an honorable parley. 

Be firm, determined, and cool ; but let it be understood that 
you are not to be driven to desperation without making- it an 
awful dear job to others as well as to you. . . 

A lasso might possibly be applied to a slave-catcher for 
once with good effect. Hold on to your weapons, and never 
be persuaded to leave them, part with them, or have them far 
away from you. Stand by one another and by your friends, 
while a drop of blood remains; and be hanged, if you must, 
but tell no tales out of school. Make no confession. 
In a letter to his wife, January 17, 1851, relating to the same 
subject, he said : 56 

Dear Wife . . . Since the sending off to slavery of 
Long from New York, I have improved my leisure hours quite 
busily with colored people here, in advising them how to act, 
and in giving them all the encouragement in my power. They 
very much need encouragement and advice ; and some of them 
are so alarmed that they tell me they cannot sleep on account 
of either themselves or their wives and children. I can only 
say I think I have been enabled to do something to revive 
their broken spirits. I want all my family to imagine them- 
selves in the same dreadful condition. My only spare time 
being taken up (often until late hours at night) in the way I 
speak of, have prevented me from the gloomy homesick feel- 
ings which had before so' much oppressed me : not that I for- 
get my family at all. 

The assumption that Brown, "The peaceful tanner and shep- 
herd," had at this time been transformed "into a man burning 
to use arms upon an institution which refused to yield to peace- 
56 Sanborn, 132. 



THE MAN 51 

ful agitation," 6T is not justified by anything that he had there- 
tofore said or done relating to slavery; neither is it justified by 
what he wrote to the "Gileadites," nor by the letter which he 
wrote to his wife concerning the condition of the free negroes. 
These papers contain^ no hint, to say nothing of evidence, that 
the action taken therein by him was the result of any precon- 
ceived intention to attack slavery ; or that it was related to any 
general plan or purpose to oppose slavery; or that it fore- 
shadowed any disposition on his part, burning or otherwise, to 
engage in the matter any further than by counsel and advice. 
The letter to his wife reflects the general sense of compassion 
that was felt for the negroes, by all humane people throughout 
the North, because of the distressful condition in which they 
were placed by the terms of the Fugitive Slave Law. 

The foregoing is a recital of all that is contained in the 
record of Brown's life concerning his anti-slavery activities up 
to the year 1852. In the working of that great engine for 
emancipation, the Underground Railway, he took no part. Of 
the more than seventy-five thousand slaves who were carried 
from bondage to freedom by the self-sacrificing agencies of the 
system, Brown, it is said, gave shelter and a meal to but one of 
them. The late Colonel Thomas Wentworth Higginson, mili- 
tant clergyman and abolitionist, in a eulogy upon Brown, said : 58 
. . . It had been my privilege to live in the best society 
all my life — namely that of abolitionists and fugitive slaves. 
I had seen the most eminent persons of the age: several on 
whose heads tens of thousands of dollars had been set ; a black 
woman, who, after escaping from slavery herself, had gone 
back secretly eight times into the jaws of death to bring out 
persons whom she had never seen ; and a white man, who af- 
ter assisting away fugitives by the thousand, had twice been 
stripped of every dollar of his property in fines, and when 
taunted by the Court, had mildly said, "Friend if thee knows 

"Villard, 48. 
58 Redpath, 64. 



52 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 

any poor fugitive in need of a breakfast, send him to Thomas 

Garrett's door." I had known these, and such as these; but 

I had not known the Browns. . . 

This well informed man ; this practical and intellectual leader 
of the anti-slavery movement had been Brown's neighbor for 
years. Why was it that he had never heard of him? There 
is but one answer: Brown had not been a worker in Mr. 
Higginson's vineyard. He had not done anything to attract 
the attention" of any one seriously interested in the anti-slavery 
cause. He was neither an ardent nor a conspicuous laborer 
in behalf of the slave. 

However, what has been stated herein is the credit side of 
Brown's account with slavery ; there is also a debit side in this 
history which exhibits strong presumptive evidence that his 
"horror" of slavery was neither so "passionate" nor so violent 
but that it could be controlled and modified to accommodate 
itself to the advantages of the system. When John Brown, 
the man of affairs, decided to become a resident of the State of 
Virginia, and engage in business there upon a one thousand 
acre estate, he knew that he would have to employ some slave 
labor. He knew also that the "good will" and the patronage 
of the people living in the section of the country in which he in- 
tended to locate, were necessary for the success of his undertak- 
ing ; these he knew he could not secure unless he conformed to 
the commercial and social customs prevailing in Virginia, and to 
the sentiment of Virginians in relation to slavery. These condi- 
tions this aggressive speculator and sportsman, did consider and 
did accept. The letter which he wrote to his wife from Ripley, 
Virginia, suggests, as a matter of fact, that he had declared a 
truce in his opposition to slavery, whatever the degree of such 
opposition may have been ; and that he had changed his attitude 
toward the system to meet the requirements of his prospective 
environment. The letter, abridged by Mr. Sanborn, is as fol- 
lows : 59 



59 Sanborn, 134. 



THE MAN 53 

Ripley, Va., April 27, 1840. 
. . . I like the country as well as I expected and its in- 
habitants rather better ; and I have seen the spot where, if it 
be the will of Providence, I hope one day to live with my fam- 
ily. . . Were the inhabitants as resolute and industrious 
as the Northern people, and did they understand how to man- 
age as well, they would become rich ; but they are not gen- 
erally so. They seem to have no idea of improvement in their 
cattle, sheep, or hogs, nor to know the use of enclosed pas- 
ture-field for their stock, but spend a large portion of their 
time in hunting for their cattle, sheep, and horses ; and the 
same habit continues from father to son. . . By compar- 
ing them with people of other parts of the country, I can see 
new and abundant proof that knowledge is power. I think 
we may be very useful to them on many accounts, were we 
disposed. May God in mercy keep us all, and enable us to 
get wisdom; and with all our getting and losing, to get 
understanding. 

It would be very much more satisfactory if Mr. Sanborn 
had published the full text of that part of this letter which 
treats of the habits of the people, and of the labor conditions 
existing there. The question of labor was of paramount im- 
portance in Brown's Virginia venture. He was an optimist, 
and in his optimistic forecast saw that the care and cultivation 
of a thousand acres, and the operation and development of a 
tanning business would, in time, require a large establishment, 
necessitating, probably, the labor of a number of slaves. This 
question then arises : Did John Brown intend or expect to 
own, ultimately, the necessary slaves to operate this property, 
*or did he intend to hire them from others. His letters con- 
sistently abound in minute detail. It is therefore improbable, 
in the opinion of the writer, that he discussed the manners and 
customs of the white people of that section with his wife, and 
wrote of minor conditions existing there, without making some 
reference to the black people of the country; and to the more 
important questions of slavery and labor — matters in which 



54 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 

he would have a deep personal and pecuniary interest. Mr. 
Villard did not fail to comment, with surprise, upon the omis- 
sion of the subject from Brown's letter. He said : 60 

But his letter to his family from Ripley, Virginia, April 27, 
1840, already cited, is peaceable enough and his hope of set- 
tling his family there is hardly consistent with his anti-slavery 
policy of later years. Indeed, while recording his pleasure 
that the residents of the vicinity were more attractive people 
than he thought, he had nothing to say about the institution of 
slavery which he then, for the first time, really beheld at close 
range. 

No one inspired with an enthusiasm upon the subject of 
slavery, such as has been attributed to Brown, could have failed, 
under these circumstances, to dwell upon the theme. A dilem- 
ma is, therefore, herein presented to his biographers and 
eulogists which they cannot disregard : either he discussed the 
questions of labor, and what their relations to slavery would 
be in their prospective estate, in this letter to his wife ; or else, 
he considered slavery of so little importance in the premises, 
and was so indifferent at heart upon the subject, that his first 
sight of real slaves, in actual slavery, failed to elicit from him 
any expression whatever in regard to it. It is the opinion of 
the writer that John Brown, the man of iron will, the reckless 
speculator, optimist and sportsman, was well pleased with the 
prospect of owning a plantation of a thousand broad acres in 
Virginia ; and with having it well stocked with fine horses, fine 
cattle, fine sheep, and fine slaves. 

This opinion of the man is consistent with his reckless specu- 
lative career, and with his indifference as to the means for the 
accomplishment of his ends. And after all, it is by a man's 
actions, and not by any explanation of his motives, furnished 
by himself or by others, that we must, in the final analysis, esti- 
mate his character. 

•° Villard, 48. 



CHAPTER III 

KANSAS — A CRISIS IN OUR NATIONAL HISTORY 

There are no greater heroes in the history of our country 
than Eli Thayer of Massachusetts, and Charles Robinson of 
Kansas. — William H. Taft 

In its relation to Government, our country has completed two 
periods of its existence. The Colonial period ended at York- 
town. The period of State Sovereignty had its ending at Ap- 
pomattox. Kansas was the herald of Appomattox ; the climax 
in the series of political incidents which led to secession and the 
war between the States. 

By the Ordinance of 1787, the last Continental Congress ex- 
cluded slavery from all that part of the public domain lying 
north of the Ohio River. In 1803 our territorial limits were 
expanded by the purchase of Louisiana, and a serious clash 
between the Free and the Slave sections of the country came 
upon the division, in relation to slavery, of this newly acquired 
domain. It was precipitated upon Congress by the application 
of Missouri, in 1818, to be admitted into the Union. Its con- 
stitution provided for slavery. The northern part of the new 
state extended from the Mississippi to the Missouri ; the north 
boundary being 40° 30' north latitude ; and this line, taken in 
connection with the Platte River from the Missouri to the 
Rocky Mountains, suggested what the South intended should 
be the dividing line between the sections in the new territory. 
After two years of acrimonious debate a compromise measure 
was adopted admitting Missouri, as prayed for, but excluding 
slavery forever from all the remaining territory, acquired from 
France, lying north of 36° 30' north latitude. 



56 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 

The debate upon the measure developed the existence, in the 
North, of a growing hostile sentiment toward slavery, which 
confirmed in the minds of Southern statesmen the necessity of 
keeping the number of Slave States equal, at least, with the 
number of Free States ; for only by thus maintaining a balance 
of power in the Senate, could legislation adverse to slavery be 
prevented. Also, the limitations of the compromise agreement 
emphasized a further necessity; the acquisition of additional 
territory south of 36° 30' from which Slave States could be 
created in the future, to balance the admission into the Union 
of prospective Free States. This resulted in a propaganda for 
territorial expansion southward. In pursuance of such policy, 
the revolt against Mexico, by Texas, was probably encouraged. 61 
In discussing the recognition of the Republic of Texas, in Jan- 
uary, 1836, Mr. Calhoun said, "It prepared the way for the 
speedy admission of Texas into the Union, which would be 
a necessity to the proper balance of power in the Union between 
the slave-holding and non-slave-holding Commonwealths, upon 
which the preservation of the Union and the perpetuation of 
its institutions rested. 62 

The State of Vermont "apprehended that the political 
strength which the annexation of Texas would give to the 
slave-holding- interests, would soon lead to a dissolution of the 
Union, or to the political degradation of the Free States" ; and, 
in pursuance of that apprehension the "Legislature of Vermont 
adopted a set of resolutions protesting against the annexation of 
Texas or the admission of any Slave State into the Union," 
which was presented in Congress. 63 Having respect for North- 
ern sentiment. Congress kept Florida waiting six years : until 
Iowa was ready to come into the Union. 64 The South consented 
readily to the settlement of the "Oregon Boundary Question" 

61 Schouler, vol. iv, 251. 

62 Burgess, 302. 

es McMaster, vol. vi, 481. 
64 Burgess, 290. 



KANSAS — A CRISIS IN OUR HISTORY 57 

at 49° north latitude instead of 54° 40'. In fact, at the time 
the Democratic National Convention of 1844 declared our title 
to the whole of Oregon as far as 54° 40' to be "clear and un- 
questionable," Mr. Calhoun, secretary of state, had proposed 
to Her Majesty's representative to settle the controversy by 
adopting the 49th parallel as the boundary. 65 Texas was ad- 
mitted into the Union ; the articles of annexation providing that 
it might be subdivided into five states, at any time it chose to 
make such division. Also, after a war of conquest with Mexico, 
Upper California and New Mexico were added to the public 
domain. 

The mutual congratulations indulged in by the Southern 
managers over the accomplishment of the pro-slavery program 
for territorial expansion, were interrupted by intelligence of the 
most startling character. Before the Treaty of Guadalupe 
Hidalgo had been signed, gold was discovered in the Sierras, 
and the occupation of California by emigrants, principally from 
the Northern States, was an immediate result. Thus, the con- 
quest of Mexico — the prize trophy in the triumphal procession 
of pro-slavery events — carried with it, by the irony of fate, 
the Nemesis of her despoiled people. Within two years a Free 
State had been carved out of the Territory which the South 
had won for slavery. 

The contests which were had over the admission of Missouri 
into the Union, and the annexation of Texas, were trivial in 
comparison with the storm that burst upon the Thirty-first 
Congress over the admission of California. The already 
strained relations between the North and the South reached the 
limits of tension ; and but for the tabling of the "Wilmot Pro- 
viso," and the adoption of the "Compromise" measures, the 
cords that bound the Union would have snapped then and there. 
"The first weeks of the session were more than enough to show 
in its full breadth and depth, even to the duller eyes, the abyss 

65 Twenty Years of Congress, vol. ii, 50. 



58 JOHN BROWN: A CRITIQUE 

that yawned between the North and the South." 6(i "All the 
Union men, North and South, Whigs and Democrats, for the 
period of six months were assembled in caucuses every day, 
with Clay in the chair, Cass upon his right hand, Webster upon 
his left hand, and the Whigs and Democrats on either side. 67 
It was during this debate that Mr. Seward announced the doc- 
trine of the "higher law" : 

The Constitution regulates our stewardship ; the Constitu- 
tion devotes the domain (the territories not formed into 
states) to union, to justice, to defence, to welfare, and to lib- 
erty. But there is a higher law than the Constituion, which 
regulates our authority over the domain and devotes it to the 
same noble purposes. 
Webster thus began his great speech : 

I wish to speak today, not as a Massachusetts man, nor as 
a Northern man, but as an American. . . The imprisoned 
winds are let loose. The East, the North, and the stormy 
South combine to throw the whole sea into commotion, to toss 
its billows to the skies, and disclose its profoundest depths. 
. . . I speak today for the preservation of the Union. 
"Hear me for my Cause. 6S 
Said Toombs of Georgia : 

I do not then hesitate to avow before this House and the 
Country, and in the presence of the living God, that if by your 
legislation you seek to drive us from the territories of Califor- 
nia and New Mexico, purchased by the common blood and 
treasure of the whole people, and to abolish slavery in this 
district, thereby attempting to fix a National degradation upon 
half of the states of this confederacy / am for disunion, and 
if my physical courage be equal to the maintenance of my con- 
es Von Hoist, vol. iii, 479. 

67 Douglas's Speech at Cincinnati, September 9, 1859. 

68 W. W. Corcoran sent Mr. Webster a check for $10,000 as an ex- 
pression of thanks and recognition for his speech on this occasion.— Von 
Hoist, vol. iii, 503. 



KANSAS — A CRISIS IN OUR HISTORY 59 

victions of duty, I will devote all I am, and all I have on earth 
to its consummation. 69 

This speech was repeatedly interrupted by storms of ap- 
plause. And Stephens, too, was greeted with loud acclama- 
tions when he announced his concurrence in every word of his 
colleague, and declared the Union dissolved from the moment 
an attack upon a section became an accomplished fact. 

Colcock of South Carolina then announced that he would 
bring in a formal motion for the dissolution of the Union, as 
soon as the abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia 
should have been resolved upon, or the Wilmot Proviso passed. 70 
The compromise agreement was effected by the fine patriotism, 
the sagacity, and the personal sacrifice of two great figures of 
that generation : Clay and Webster. In promoting this measure, 
they exhausted their political resources, and forfeited their 
political fortunes. Neither of them could have been reelected 
to the senate. 

Nothing was settled by the compromise of 1850; both sides 
accepting it in a tentative way. "The present Crisis may pass," 
wrote Mr. Stephens in 1850. 71 ''the present adjustment may be 
made, but the great question of permanence of slavery in the 
Southern states will be far from being settled thereby. And, 
in my opinion, the crisis of that question is not far ahead." 

This review, altogether too brief, is made herein to show the 
extreme tension of the sectional feeling which existed in the 
country on account of the extension of slavery ; and the national 
significance of the struggle that was soon to develop over the 
question in Kansas. It also foreshadows the action the South- 
ern States would surely take, if the Kansas decision declared 
against them. 

By the admission of California into the Union as a Free 
State, the South lost the "balance of power" ; but the general 

69 Congressional Globe. 31st Cong., 1 Sen., 28. 

70 Von Hoist, vol. iii. 472. 

71 Von Hoist, vol. iii, 482. 



60 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 

situation at the time was far from being hopeless. Further 
territorial expansion was necessary — imperatively so — but 
the prospect was still full of promising possibilites. There was 
Cuba, that Buchanan had offered a hundred millions for in 1848 ; 
out of which two, or, if necessary, three States could be made. 
And, looming up in the more remote horizon, were Nicaragua 
and the remainder of Mexico. And, last but not least, "Squatter 
Sovereignty," or, in more modern parlance : "Let the People 
Rule." 

The "Pearl of the Antilles" was the prize trophy in the new 
crusade for territorial acquisition, and "Free Cuba" the slogan. 
The efforts to get control of the island, for purposes of annexa- 
tion, were persistent, and the history of them is intensely inter- 
esting. First came filibustering operations. Three expedi- 
tions were sent out in 1849-1851. The command of the last 
of these was offered — first to Jefferson Davis, and then to 
Robert E. Lee. 72 It sailed August 3, 1851, under Lopez. In 
the first scrimmage with the Spaniards, Colonel Crittenden (son 
of Senator Crittenden of Kentucky) and fifty of his men were 
captured, taken to Havana, and shot, August 24th. The re- 
mainder of the Army of Invasion was defeated; Lopez was 
taken and garroted; and his followers who had been taken 
prisoners, were sent to Spain. 

General Quitman's expedition, organized in 1853-1854, would 
have been more formidable than any theretofore undertaken. 
He had commanded a brigade in General Scott's army, in Mex- 
ico, and had been Governor of Mississippi. His demonstra- 
tions, however, may have been merely in support of Mr. Marcy's 
efforts, at the time, to open negotiations with Spain for pur- 
chasing the island. Meanwhile the Black Warrior incident 
offered the most promising opportunity of all. The provoca- 
tion in that case could have been held to be sufficient to justify 
a declaration of war ; and that surely would have been the result, 
"Rhodes, vol. i, 217. 



KANSAS — A CRISIS IN OUR HISTORY 61 

had it not been for the tornado of anti-slavery sentiment which 
was let loose at the time by the promulgation, in the Kansas- 
Nebraska bill, then pending in Congress, of the new doctrine 
of "Squatter Sovereignty''; and by Mr. Dixon's amendment 
thereto, expressly repealing the restriction of the time honored 
Missouri Compromise. "It may be affirmed with confidence," 
says Mr. Rhodes, 73 "that Northern public opinion, excited by 
the Kansas-Nebraska act. alone prevented this unjust war." 
The New York Courier and Inquirer said June 1st: 

Does any sane man live who believes that if Cuba was ten- 
dered to us tomorrow, with the full sanction of England and 
France, that this people would consent to receive and annex 
her? . . . There was a time when the North would have 
consented to annex Cuba, but the Nebraska wrong has for- 
ever rendered annexation impossible. 

A revolution in Spain gave an opportunity for negotiations 
to purchase the island ; but the suggestion that a few millions of 
money should be placed at the disposal of the Executive, during 
the recess of Congress, to be used in the Spanish-Cuban busi- 
ness, met no response ; 7i while the "Ostend Manifesto" received 
no consideration whatever. The trouble was that the South 
had been moving with too much energy and too arrogantly. 
Her statesmen had undertaken to do everything at once. Had 
they been less aggressive, or more conciliatory and diplomatic, 
and concentrated their efforts on the acquisition of Cuba, they 
surely could have succeeded ; 75 and would then have been in 
position to await the psychological moment to move the Kansas 
question. The Missouri Compromise was a "solemn covenant 
entered into by two opposing parties for the preservation of 
amicable relations." It was not sustained by any constitutional 
authority. Kansas Territory, therefore, might have been 
peacefully occupied by emigrants from Missouri and the South- 

73 Rhodes, vol. ii, 33. 

74 Rhodes, vol. ii, 37. 

75 Von Hoist, vol. iv, 61. 



62 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 

ern States, as Missouri had been, leaving, with confidence, the 
constitutionality of the restrictions against slavery, for future 
settlement by the courts. 

The creation of the State of Kansas was a political proposi- 
tion pure and simple. The amendment to the Nebraska bill 
creating Kansas Territory provided for a "complete Territorial 
government ; including a legislature with two houses and thirty- 
nine members ; although, at the time, there was not one white 
man in the Territory, except those intermarried with Indians 
and the few who were there under authority of Federal 
law. . . The project fell upon Congress as suddenly and 
apparently as uncaused as a meteor from the political sky." 7b 

The settlement of the Territory was promoted by the leaders 
of the pro-slavery and anti-slavery sections of the country. The 
South was spurred to activity by the extremity of its political 
and commercial necessities; while the North was impelled by 
a great moral sentiment, that had developed with time and 
changes which had occurred in public thought and in economic 
conditions. But the fact should not be lost sight of, that the 
ethical emotions which nourished this sentiment had their origin, 
or beginnings, in the unprofitable and unsatisfactory character 
of slave labor in that section. The Southern statesmen staked 
the entire stock of their political assets on the result in Kansas. 
The North already had a majority of one State, with the Ter- 
ritories, Minnesota and Oregon, waiting at the threshold of 
the Union for admission into the family of States. If the South 
lost Kansas, its political power and prestige would be destroyed ; 
slavery would thereafter be dependent, in the Union, upon the 
mercy or charity of the aggressively hostile anti-slavery senti- 
ment which it had too arrogantly aroused. 

The plans of the Southerners for the creation of the new State, 
were well matured, and seemed in every way feasible. The 
geographical situation was ideal. The close proximity of tne 

"Von Hoist, vol. iv, 322. 



KANSAS — A CRISIS IN OUR HISTORY 63 

friendly State of Missouri, with a large percentage of its pop- 
ulation on its western border, backed by the mutuality of every 
Southern State, seemed to be sufficient guaranty that the neces- 
sary voting population could, and would, be promptly furnished. 
They had good cause to believe that they could get their people 
into the Territory in sufficient numbers to control the necessary 
elections. 

In the Senate Mr. Seward said, May 25, 1854: 

The sun has set for the last time upon the guaranteed and 
certain liberties of all the unsettled portions of the American 
continent that lie within the jurisdiction of the United States. 
Tomorrow's sun will rise in deep eclipse over these. How 
long that obscuration shall last, is known only to the power 
that directs all human events. For myself I know this : 
that no human power can prevent its coming on, and that its 
passage off will be hastened and secured by others than 
those now belonging to this generation. 77 

Authorities by the score might be cited to show the gloom 
and despondency of the North at this time. The people had 
reason to believe that Kansas and Nebraska would become Slave 
States, and that the preponderance of Southern influence in gov- 
ernmental affairs would be perpetuated indefinitely. 

May 30, 1854, the Kansas-Nebraska Bill was signed and the 
doctrine of Squatter Sovereignty thereby crystallized into law. 
Immediately the historic contest for the occupation and political 
control of Kansas Territory was on : a contest that marks an 
epoch in the history of our country. The great events of the 
succeeding decade : the acts of secession, the war between the 
States, with its tragedies ; and the Emancipation Proclamation, 
were all involved in the result. 

It cannot be said that the contest was of local concern, carried 

77 The passing off of this obscuration was ''hastened and secured" by 
the initiative of Eli Thayer and Charles Robinson. Under the able leader- 
ship of the latter, the political control of Kansas Territory passed into 
the hands of the Free-State men at the elections in October, 1857. 



64 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 

on between factions in Kansas over the question whether the 
State should be a Free State or a Slave State ; for at that time 
there were no settlers in the Territory to comprise such factions. 
The interest in the impending struggle was nation wide. Con- 
gress had merely cleared the ground for action ; "pitched the 
ring," for what was to be the first political battle in the "fight 
to a finish" between the slave-holding and the non-slave-hold- 
ing sections of our country : the beginning of the final struggle 
between freedom and slavery. 

The question of slavery in the Territory was to be decided by 
the votes of the people who would emigrate to and occupy it. 
The South had chosen to place its reliance upon votes in a con- 
test where oratory, tact, and statesmanship had theretofore 
failed. Its slogan was "Squatter Sovereignty." The answer 
given back by the North was "Organized Emigration:" "a 
power unknown before in the world's history." 

The rapid settlement of California had shown that any coun- 
try will draw emigration thereto, if it offers an attractive lure. 
Mr. Eli Thayer, of Massachusetts, had made a note of that fact 
and believed that what the discovery of gold had done to pro- 
mote emigration to that state, the advantages of soil and climate 
for successful home building, would do for Kansas, if properly 
advertised. The formation of the Massachusetts Emigrant 
Aid Company, with an authorized capital of $5,000,000, was a 
result of his conclusions upon the subject. It proved to be "a 
stronger defiance to slavocracy than anything ever uttered in 
the hall of Congress." This commercial novelty put its cap- 
ital in the advance instead of in the rear of the column of occu- 
pation. It assisted emigrants to reach their destination, and 
helped them to develop their farms. For this purpose it in- 
stalled saw mills and flour mills, where needed ; furnished ma- 
chinery and implements; built churches, school houses, and 
hotels. Also, it proposed to earn dividends for its stockholders 
by these and other investments. As Mr. Thayer expressed it : 



KANSAS — A CRISIS IN OUR HISTORY 65 

"When a man can do a magnanimous act; when he can do a 
decidedly good thing, and at the same time make money by it, 
all his faculties are in harmony." 

An incident of the period of the occupation of Kansas is thus 
related by Mr. Thayer on page 187 of the Crusade : "One day, 
in 1855, Senator Atchison, with some others, was at the wharf 
in Kansas City, when a river boat approached with one of our 
engines on deck. Atchison turned to those on the right and 
asked: 'What is that on the deck of the steamboat?' His 
companion answered : 'Senator, that is a steam engine and a 
steam boiler.' Turning to the others he repeated his question. 
They repeated the answer before given. He replied : 'You 

are a pack of fools. That is a Yankee city going to 

Kansas; and by ! in six months it will cast a hundred 

Abolition votes.' " 

The affairs of the company in Kansas were placed under the 
direction of Dr. Charles Robinson, also of Massachusetts. He 
came to the Territory early in July, 1854; located the town of 
Lawrence, and established there the headquarters of the bureau 
of northern immigration. 

Naturally the first immigrants to arrive came from Missouri. 
In sentiment they were quite unanimously pro-slavery ; but that 
was not discouraging, for the publicity bureau, organized by 
Mr. Thayer and ably backed by Mr. Greeley through the col- 
umns of the New York Tribune, had proclaimed the advantages 
and possibilities of the new Territory far and wide; and the 
public interest thus awakened gave ample promise of satisfac- 
tory results in the near future. July 31st, the first consignment 
of emigrants from the North, twenty-nine in number, arrived 
at Lawrence ; and September 2d the second installment of one 
hundred and fourteen arrived and joined the initial company. 
Within a few months "Organized Emigration" was in success- 
ful operation; and by the close of the year 1856, it had fulfilled 
the Kansas prophecy. As Mr. Thayer states it : 78 

78 Thayer, Kansas Crusade, 232. 



66 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 

We had triumphed in the great conflict. We had in 
Kansas four Free-State men to every one of our opponents ; 
our numbers were rapidly increasing while theirs were di- 
minishing. Buford had returned to Alabama. Atchinson 
and Stringfellow had given up the fight. 
Concerning the Kansas conflict Dr. Burgess says : 

The record of this struggle is certanily one of the most 
remarkable chapters in the history of the United States. 
There is much to admire in it, much to be ashamed of, and 
much to be repudiated as foul and devilish. The prudence, 
moderation, tact, and bravery of Dr. Robinson and his 
friends have rarely been excelled by the statesmen and dip- 
lomatists of the New World or of the Old. They were 
placed in a most trying situation both by their foes and by 
those who, professing to be their friends, endangered the 
cause more by violent and brutal deeds than did their open 
enemies. Their triumph over all these difficulties is a marvel 
of shrewd, honest, and conservative management, which may 
well serve as one of the best object-lessons of our history for 
succeeding generations. 79 

It is not within the purview of this sketch to recite in detail 
the various incidents, accidents, and extremities which befell the 
Northern emigrants in working out the problems of state build- 
ing. They began to acquire experience promptly with the ar- 
rival of the first colony ; and the authorities all agree, that, dur- 
ing the ensuing three years an area of low political barometer 
was general throughout the Territory, with a continuous storm 
center, of great energy, at Lawrence. "By the sharp logic of 
the revolver and bowie knife, the people of Missouri became 
the people of Kansas." Residents of Missouri furnished liberal 
pro-slavery majorities at the elections, and their personal ser- 
vices were available at all times, for the preservation of peace 
and order in the Territory; as well as to enforce, by force, a 

" Burgess, Middle Period, 471-472. 



KANSAS — A CRISIS IN OUR HISTORY 67 

proper respect for the dignity of the Territorial officers, and 
for the authority of the Legislature itself. 

A revolt against these superimposed attentions, organized 
and led by Charles Robinson, became the thorn that rankled 
in the pro-slavery flesh, and led to the discomfiture and defeat of 
the Slave-State propaganda. Robinson had the temerity to 
challenge the subtile logic of the revolver and bowie-knife in 
determining the qualifications of Territorial electors. His 
dissent, at first, took the mild form of a petition to Governor 
Reeder, after the election of November 29, 1854, asking that 
"the entire vote of the districts receiving the votes of citizens of 
Missouri, be set aside ; or that the entire election be set aside." 
After a brutal usurpation of the polls, at the election for mem- 
bers of the Territorial Legislature, March 30, 1855, a Legisla- 
ture which, under the organic act could determine whether the 
State should be Free or Slave, Robinson again protested and 
sought redress of the spoilation of the squatters' rights ; and, 
failing to obtain justice, united the Free-State men in a revolt 
against the authority of the Territorial Legislature, and in a 
determination to repudiate the laws it intended lawlessly to 
enact. Also, what had still greater significance, he organized 
his followers into military companies to resist, by force of arms, 
any further infringement upon their rights. Answering his 
call to duty, the Free-State men of Lawrence and vicinity led 
the nation in this crisis in public affairs, making its history, and 
directing its destiny. It was the hour of Destiny. Sending 
for a second consignment of Sharp's rifles, Robinson wrote 
these impressive and heroic words : 

We are in the midst of a revolution, as you will see by the 

papers. How we shall come out of the furnace, God only 

knows. That we have got to enter it, some of us, there is 

no doubt ; but we are ready to be offered. 

In haste very respectfully, Yours, for freedom for a world, 

C. Robinson. 

5 



68 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 

The organization of a military force by the Free-State men, 
gave to the Free-State party a solidarity and prestige it had not 
theretofore enjoyed. It at once became a popular party; and 
encouraged by daily accessions to its ranks by immigration, 
combined with a prospective certainty of becoming the majority 
party, it became bravely aggressive, and boldly launched its 
campaign for Free-State supremacy. In furtherance of their 
plan of campaign, the Free-State men adopted a constitution 
for a Free State, and organized and put into effect a full fledged 
State Government in opposition to the existing Territorial Gov- 
ernment ; and under it, with Charles Robinson as Governor, 
sought admission into the Union. Only a wise and courageous 
leadership combined with a high order of executive ability, 
could successfully handle the delicate problems involved in this 
complicated program. The leadership required the necessary 
tact to unite and reconcile divergent convictions and opinions, 
within the party, upon questions of principle as well as of policy ; 
it also required prudence to restrain the impetuous, and to avoid 
complications which, at any time, might make shipwreck of the 
cause. 

The results accomplished by the Free-State settlers during 
the first two years of their occupation of the Territory, amply 
justified the generous congratulations in which they indulged. 
They had, wisely, withdrawn from under the fire of an arro- 
gant, domineering majority, and, in their segregation, were 
surely creating a State to their own liking, in their own way. 
They matched their wits against the management of their poli- 
tical opponents, and were more than satisfied with the dilemma 
in which the situation placed them. It became plainly evident 
that unless the Free-State organizations, civil and military, were 
utterly destroyed and further immigration from the North 
retarded, the Free-State cause would certainly succeed. The 
situation, therefore, demanded the adoption of more strenuous 
methods in dealing with it than could be approved by the Na- 
tional Administration. 



KANSAS — A CRISIS IN OUR HISTORY 69 

What they had failed to accomplish by "peaceful" methods, 
the pro-slavery junta now sought to gain by the execution of 
more radical measures. They accordingly organized an "Army 
of Invasion," and the Wakarusa War of 1855 became an his- 
torical incident. They indicted the Free-State Governor, Rob- 
inson, and the more prominent Free-State men, for "construc- 
tive" treason ; arrested them, and put them in prison. In May, 
1856, under cover of judicial authority, the town of Lawrence 
was looted and burned. The Free-State Legislature that had 
been elected, assembled at Topeka, only to be dispersed, July 
4th, by the armed forces of the United States. A blockade of 
the Missouri River was declared against Free-State immigrants, 
and made effective. They also attempted, without success, to 
cut off communications between Kansas and the Northern 
States, which the Free-State men had opened up, via Iowa and 
Nebraska. They murdered Dow, and Barber, and Brown, and 
Stewart, and Jones, and Hoyt. 

A third, and the final invasion, closed this chapter of heroic 
undertakings and lamentable failures. September 14, 1856, 
their army, 2800 strong, occupied Franklin. During the 
night, Lieutenant Colonel Joseph E. Johnston, U. S. Army, 
with a battalion of cavalry and a section of artillery, 
arrived at Lawrence. Placing his battery in position on Mount 
Oread, the muzzles of his guns pointing toward Franklin, and 
deploying his cavalry in the valley in front of the town, he 
awaited the crisis developing in the pro-slavery situation. On 
the morning of the 15th, the newly appointed Territorial Gov- 
ernor, John W. Geary, accompanied by Lieutenant Colonel 
Philip St. George Cooke, U. S. Army, arrived upon the scene 
from Lecompton. After a short conversation with Governoj 
Robinson, they rode out to interview the invaders. It was 
the hour of fate. A brief conference with General Atchison 
was held in front of Atchison's lines ; and then, it was all over ; 
the Federal Government had intervened. The campaign of 
violence had failed, and with it expired the last substantial hope 



70 JOHN BROWN: A CRITIQUE 

of the pro-slavery managers that the balance of power between 
the warring sections of the country could be restored. Upon 
receiving Governor Geary's ultimatum : that he must retire 
with his forces from the Territory, immediately, Atchison 
turned the head of his column toward Missouri. Arriving at 
Westport, he disbanded his army and gave up the struggle. 
Buford returned to Alabama and Jackson to Georgia. That 
Kansas would be a Free State was practically assured from 
that hour. 

Involved in the corollary of the Free-State victory were the 
startling incidents in history that followed in quick succession, 
culminating in the stupendous tragedies of war. Mr. F. B. 
Sanborn said : 80 

Had Kansas in the death struggle of 1856 fallen a prey 
to the slave holders, slave-holding would today be the law 
of our imperial democracy. The sanctions of the Union and 
the Constitution would now be on the side of human slavery, 
as they were from 1840 to 1860. 

The question of slavery domination must and will be 
fought out on the plains of Kansas. 81 

Kansas must be a Slave State or the Union will be dis- 
solved. . . If Kansas is not made a Slave State, it re- 
quires no sage to foretell that there will never be another 
Slave State. 82 

Slavery in South Carolina is dependent upon its establish- 
ment in Kansas. 83 

The Touch-stone of our political existence is Kansas. 84 

Georgia, Mississippi, and Alabama stand pledged to secede 
from the Union, should Kansas applying for admission as a 
slave state be refused admission. 85 



80 Sanborn, 248. 

81 New York Weekly Tribune, February 22, 1856. 

82 De Bow's Reviezv, August, 1856. 

83 South Carolina Courier, July 5, 1856. 

84 Charleston (S. C.) Mercury, August 5, 1856 

85 Ibid., January, 1858. 



KANSAS — A CRISIS IN OUR HISTORY 71 

The question is one of life or death to the South upon the 
simple alternative of the admission or rejection of Kansas 
with her slave constitution. 86 

That American is little to be envied who can speak lightly 
of the decisive contest in Kansas between the two antagonis- 
tic civilizations of this continent. Either he does not love 
his country, or he is incapable of understanding her history. 87 



86 New York Herald, January, 1858. 

87 Kansas Crusade, 110. 



CHAPTER IV 

HIS PUBLIC SERVICES 

Peace rules the day, where reason rules the mind. 

— Collins 

It was in the fall of 1855 that John Brown came to Kansas 
to try another venture with fortune, in a new field of oppor- 
tunity. 

During the spring of 1854 his son John was seeking a new 
location, and had written to his father in relation thereto ; who 
replied to him in a letter dated April 3, 1854, "I do not know 
of a good opening for you this way." 88 But during the fall of 
that year five of Brown's sons — John, Jason, Owen, Frederick, 
and Salmon — decided to settle in Kansas. Having completed 
their arrangements they moved to the Territory in the spring 
of 1855, arriving, about May 1st, in the vicinity of Osawatomie. 
They were attracted to the Territory, as thousands of others 
were, by the glowing accounts published by emigration societies 
north and south. These prospectuses described the beauty of 
the prairies, the fertility of the soil, the delightful and health- 
giving climate ; and set forth the prospective rewards in wealth, 
health, and happiness which were awaiting all who took ad- 
vantage of the great opportunities the country offered. That 
they were not disappointed upon their arrival, appears from 
their letters expressing eminent satisfaction with everything 
pertaining to the settlement, and their desire to have their father 
locate in Kansas with them. 

May 24th John Brown, Jr., wrote to his father: "Salmon, 
Frederick, and Owen say that they never was in a country that 

ss Sanborn, 157. 



HIS PUBLIC SERVICES 73 

begun to please them as well, and I will say that the present 
prospect for health, wealth, and usefulness much exceeds even 
my most sanguine anticipations. I know of no country where 
a poor man, endowed with a share of common sense and with 
health, can get a start as easy. If we can succeed in making 
this a free state, a great work will be accomplished for man- 
kind." 89 

Long before the coming of the Browns, the Free State leaders 
in the Territory had determined to repudiate the laws enacted 
by the Territorial Legislature; also, to defend themselves by 
force of arms against the aggressions of their over-zealous 
pro-slavery neighbors in Missouri. They had during April, 
1855, secured from Boston a hundred Sharp's rifles to arm the 
companies organized at Lawrence, and were negotiating for 
further consignments of arms. After their arrival in the Ter- 
ritory, the Browns realized the importance of this movement, 
and since they had not brought any serviceable arms with them 
— having come with axes instead of rifles — they wrote to their 
father to try to get some for them, and bring them with him 
when he came. The letter which John Brown, Jr., wrote to his 
father on the subject is as follows : 90 

And now I come to the matter, that more than all else I 
intended should be the principal subject of this letter. I tell 
you the truth when I say, that while the interests of despotism 
has secured to its cause hundreds and thousands of the mean- 
est and most desperate of men, armed to the teeth with Re- 
volvers, Bowie Knives, Rifles and Cannon — while they are 
not only thoroughly organized, but under pay from Slave- 
holders — the friends of freedom are NOT ONE FOURTH 
of them HALF ARMED, and as to MILITARY ORGAN- 
IZATION among them it NO WHERE EXISTS IN THIS 
TERRITORY unless they have recently done something in 

89 Villard, 83. 
90 Villard, 83-84. 



74 JOHN BROWN: A CRITIQUE 

Lawrence. The result of this is that the people here exhibit 
the most abject and cowardly spirit, whenever their dearest 
rights are invaded and trampled down by the lawless bands 
of Miscreants which Missouri has ready at a moment's 
call to pour in upon them. This is the GENERAL effect 
upon the people here so far as I have noticed, there are a few, 
and but a few exceptions. Of course these foreign Scoun- 
drels know what kind of "ALLIES" they have to meet. They 
boast that they can obtain possession of the polls in any of our 
election precincts without having to fire a gun. I enclose 
a piece which I cut from a St. Louis paper named the St. 
Louis Republican; it shows the spirit which moves them. 
Now Missouri is not alone in the undertaking to make this a 
Slave State. Every Slaveholding State from Virginia to 
Texas is furnishing men and money to fasten Slavery upon 
this glorious land, by means no matter how foul. 

Now the remedy we propose is, that the Anti slavery por- 
tion of the inhabitants should IMMEDIATELY, THOR- 
OUGHLY ARM and ORGANIZE THEMSELVES in 
MILITARY COMPANIES. In order to effect this, some 
persons must begin and lead in the matter. Here are 5 
men of us who are not only anxious to fully prepare, but are 
thoroughly determined to fight. We can see no other way 
to meet the case. As in the language of the memorial lately 
signed by the people here and sent to Congress petitioning 
help, "it is no longer a question of negro slavery, but it is the 
enslavement of ourselves." 

The General Government may be petitioned until the peo- 
ple here are grey, and no redress will be had so long as it 
makes slavery its paramount interest. . . We have among 
us 5, 1 Revolver, 1 Bowie Knife, 1 middling good Rifle, 1 
poor Rifle, 1 small pocket pistol and 2 slung shot. What we 
need in order to be thoroughly armed for each man, is 1 
Colts large sized Revolver, 1 ALLEN & THURBER' 
RIFLE — they are manufactured somewhere in Mass or 
Connecticut (Mr. Paine of Springfield would probably know) 
and 1 heavy Bowie Knife — I think the Minnie Rifles are 



HIS PUBLIC SERVICES 75 

made so that a sword bayonet may be attached. With this 
we could compete with men who even possessed Cannon. 
The real Minnie Rifle has a killing range almost equal to 
Cannon and of course is more easily handled, perhaps enough 
so to make up the difference. Now we want you to get for 
us these arms. We need them more than we do bread. 
Would not Gerrit Smith or someone, furnish the money and 
loan it to us for one, two or three years, for the purpose until 
we can raise enough to refund it from the Free soil of Kan- 
sas? . . . 

In so far as the Brown family is concerned, this letter con- 
tains the first recorded evidence of an intention, or of a desire 
of any of them to actively oppose slavery in Kansas or else- 
where. It treats the subject as an original proposition; as 
though it had never been theretofore so much as mentioned in 
their family councils. The letter has historical significance : it 
secured John Brown's introduction to the public. It opened 
the way that enabled him to go to Kansas; where he began a 
career which led, ultimately, to Harper's Ferry and to Charles- 
town. 

Following the suggestion of his son he took up with Gerrit 
Smith the matter of securing a loan wherewith to purchase the 
arms desired. The latter, instead of making an arrangement 
with them for the necessary amount, personally presented the 
case before a convention of Abolitionists that was held at Syra- 
cuse, New York, June 28th, with the result that a collection 
was taken up which yielded Brown sixty dollars in cash, twenty 
dollars of which was given by Smith. 

The success Brown met with in collecting funds "for the 
cause of Kansas" at the Syracuse convention, opened before his 
commercial vision that easy field for profitable enterprise, which 
he afterward occupied and worked, in a professional manner, 
until the end of his career. After the Syracuse meeting he 
began a system of personal solicitations for money, arms, and 
clothing. At Akron, Ohio, he held open meetings in one of 



76 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 

the public halls of the village. Mr. Villard says of these meet- 
ings : 91 

Because of their interest in the Kansas crisis, and in the 
Browns, their former neighbors, the people were quickly 
roused by Brown's graphic words, and liberally contributed 
arms of all sorts, ammunition and clothing. Committees 
of Aid were appointed and ex-Sheriff Lane was deputed to 
accompany Brown in a canvass of the village shops and 
offices for contributions. 

At Cleveland, also, he solicited aid with very satisfactory re- 
sults. He obtained there guns, revolvers, swords, powder, 
caps, and money. He was so successful "that he thought it best 
to detain a day or two longer on that account." Mr. Villard 
says, "He had raised nearly two hundred dollars in that way 
in the two previous days, principally in arms and ammunition." 
Brown, with his son Oliver and his son-in-law, Henry 
Thompson, left Chicago August 23d, on their journey to Kan- 
sas. Brown states that before leaving he purchased "a nice 
young horse for $120 but have so much load that we shall have 
to walk, a good deal." The journey was accomplished without 
either accident or incident worthy of the note, the party arriv- 
ing at Osawatomie, October 6, 1855. 

Brown himself, being very tired, did not cover the last 
mile or two until the next day. They arrived in all but 
destitute condition, with but sixty cents between them, to 
find the little family settlement in great distress, not only be- 
cause of the sickness already noted, but because of the ab- 
sence of any shelter save tents. 92 

At the time Brown arrived, the Free-State cause in the Terri- 
tory was well advanced and was progressing satisfactorily. 
Out of all the meetings and conventions of the nine months 
after the stolen March 30th election, there had come then, 
great gains to the Free State Movement. The liberty party 

si Villard, 85. 
92 Villard, 88. 



HIS PUBLIC SERVICES 77 

had been organized, leaders had been developed, and a regu- 
lar policy of resistance by legal and constitutional measures 
adopted. If counsels of compromise were still entirely too 
apparent, and too potent, the train of events which resulted in 
Kansas's admission as a free State was well under way. 93 

As a result of the measures that had been adopted, an election 
was pending for the selection of a Free-State Territorial Dele- 
gate to Congress ; and delegates to a Free-State Constitutional 
Convention. This election had been called by the Free-State 
men to be held October 9th. The regular Territorial election 
had been held October 1st, the Free-State men not taking any 
part therein. Brown and his sons attended the second, or Free- 
State election, October 9th. 

An election is a political incident. A reference to an election 
by any one invites an expression of his opinions upon the ques- 
tions involved in the election, if he have any special interest 
therein. Since Brown's presence at this election was his intro- 
duction into the political affairs of the Territory, we may rea- 
sonably conclude that his comments on it cover the range of his 
general interest in the election and in the issues involved therein. 
His letters to his family in the East announcing his arrival at his 
destination, and describing the condition of affairs, domestic 
as well as political, are herewith republished. 

Osawatomie, K. T. Oct. 13, 1855. 
Saturday Eve. 
Dear Wife and Children, Every One — We reached the 
place where the boys are located one week ago, late at night ; 
at least Henry and Oliver did. I, being tired, stayed behind 
in our tent, a mile or two back. As the mail goes from here 
early Monday morning, we could get nothing here in time 
for that mail. We found all more or less sick or feeble but 
Wealthy and Johnny. All at Brownsville appear now to be 
mending, but all sick or feeble here at Mr. Adair's. Fever 
and ague and chill-fever seem to be very general. Oliver 
^Villard, 108. 



78 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 

has had a turn of the ague since he got here, but has got it 
broken. Henry has had no return since first breaking it. 
We met with no difficulty in passing through Missouri, but 
from the sickness of our horse and our heavy load. The 
horse has entirely recovered. We had, between us all, sixty 
cents in cash when we arrived. We found our folks in a 
most uncomfortable situation, with no houses to shelter one 
of them, no hay or corn fodder of any account secured, shiv- 
ering over their little fires, all exposed to the dreadful cutting 
winds, morning and evening and stormy days. We have 
been trying to help them all in our power, and hope to get 
them more comfortable soon. I think much of their ill health 
is owing to most unreasonable exposure. Mr. Adair's folks 
would be quite comfortable if they were well. One letter 
from wife and Anne to Salmon, of August 10, and one from 
Ruth to John, of 19th September, is all I have 'seen from 
any of you since getting here. Henry found one from Ruth 
which he has not shown me. Need I write that I shall be 
glad to hear from you ? I did not write while in Missouri, 
because I had no confidence in your getting my letters. We 
took up little Austin and brought him on here, which appears 
to be a great comfort to Jason and Ellen. We were all out 
a good part of the last night, helping to keep prairie fire from 
destroying everything ; so that I am almost blind today, or I 
would write you more. 

Sabbath Eve, October 14. 
I notice in your letter to Salmon your trouble about the 
means of having the house made more comfortable for win- 
ter, and I fondly hope you have been relieved on that score 
before now, by funds from Mr. Hurlbut, of Winchester, 
Conn., from the sale of the cattle there. Write me all about 
your situation ; for, if disappointed from that source, I shall 
make every effort to relieve you in some other way. Last 
Tuesday was an election day with Free State men in Kansas, 
and hearing that there was a prospect of difficulty we all 
turned out most thoroughly armed (except Jason, who was 
too feeble) ; but no enemy appeared, nor have I heard of any 



HIS PUBLIC SERVICES 79 

disturbance in any part of the Territory. Indeed, I believe 
Missouri is fast becoming discouraged about making Kansas 
a slave State, and I think the prospect of its becoming free is 
brightening every day. Try to be cheerful, and always "hope 
in God," who will not leave nor forsake them that trust in 
him. Try to comfort and encourage each other all you can. 
You are all very dear to me, and I humbly trust we may be 
kept and spared to meet again on earth ; but if not, let us all 
endeavor earnestly to secure admission to that eternal home, 
where will be no more bitter separations, "where the wicked 
shall cease from troubling and the weary be at rest." We 
shall probably spend a few days more in helping the boys to 
provide some kind of shelter for winter, and mean to write 
you often. May God in infinite mercy bless, comfort, and 
save you all, for Christ's sake ! 

Your Affectionate husband and father, 

John Brown. 

In simple language and at considerable length, Brown thus 
announced his arrival at his destination, and described the con- 
ditions prevailing in Kansas and in the Brown colony. A half 
dozen lines in this letter sufficed to relate the incident of the 
important election of October 9th, and to give his opinions of the 
vital questions involved in the politcal situation as it then ap- 
peared to him. These lines are void of any hostile word or 
phrase ; also they are void of any sentiment that can be made to 
suggest that Brown was different from the ordinary immigrant 
that came from the North to found a home and help to make a 
Free State. No settler from the North ever wrote a letter less 
war-like or more peaceful and domestic in its character than 
this letter written by John Brown. The clause, "I think the 
prospect of its becoming free is brightening every day," is a 
truer index to the state of Brown's mind, and is better evidence 
of the peaceful character of his quest in Kansas, than the com- 
bined reckless assertions of his biographers to the contrary. 

In violence of contemporary evidence, all of his biographers 



80 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 

and some of the historians have sought to educate the public to 
believe that Brown came to Kansas on a hostile mission. The 
public has been led to accept the fictitious John Brown, the 
picturesque character of history, instead of the real man under 
consideration. To this character constructing propaganda Mr. 
Redpath was an ardent contributer. One of his many effective 
flights has reference to the letter, heretofore published, which 
his son John wrote May 24th. He said concerning it : 

He undoubtedly regarded it as a call from the Almighty to 
gird up his loins and go forth to do battle "as the warrior of 
the Lord" as "the warrior of the Lord against the Mighty" 
in behalf of His despised poor and His downtrodden people. 
The moment long waited for had at length arrived ; the sign 
he had patiently expected had been given ; and the brave old 
soldier of the God of Battles prepared at once, to obey the 
summons . . . John Brown did not go to Kansas to 
settle there. He did not dare to remain tending sheep at 
North Elba when the American Goliath and his hosts were 
in the field, defying the little armies of the living Lord. 94 

While Mr. Redpath did very well, his panegyric is not com- 
parable with some of the latest and more scholarly studies of 
Brown. Here is one of Mr. Villard's efforts : 

Thenceforth John Brown could give free rein to his wan- 
derlust; the shackles of business life dropped from him. He 
was now bowed and rapidly turning gray ; to everyone's lips 
the adjective "old" leaped as they saw him. But this was 
not the age of senility, nor of weariness with life ; nor were 
the lines of care due solely to family and business anxieties 
or to the hard labor of the fields. They were rather the 
marks of the fires consuming within ; of the indomitable pur- 
pose that was the main spring of every action ; of a life de- 
voted, a spirit inspired. Emancipation from the counter and 
the harrow came joyfully to him at the time of life when 
most men begin to long for rest and the repose of a quiet, 

9 * Redpath, 81-82. 



HIS PUBLIC SERVICES 81 

well ordered home. Thenceforth he was free to move where 
he pleased, to devote every thought to his battle with the 
slave-power he staggered, which then, knew nothing of his 
existence. 

The metamorphosis was now complete. The staid, sombre 
merchant and patriarchal family-head was ready to become 
Captain John Brown of Osawatomie, at the mere mention of 
whose name Border Ruffians and swashbuckling adherents 
to the institution of slavery trembled and often fled. Kansas 
gave John Brown the opportunity to test himself as a guer- 
rilla leader for which he had longed ; for no other purpose 
did he proceed to the Territory ; to become a settler there as 
he had hoped to in Virginia in 1840 was furthest from his 
thoughts. 95 

At the time the chrysalis of the Osawatomie guerilla is said 
to have emancipated himself bodily from the harrow and was 
burning to take up arms against the "swashbucklers," he wrote 
a letter to his son Salmon concerning his intentions to join the 
colony and asked him some questions relating to their condi- 
tion, and to their requirements. Strange as it may seem this 
letter contained nothing that called for a war-like, or even a 
moderately ferocious reply from Salmon. His answer to it is 
scarcely dramatic ; in fact it seems to relate more to the harrow, 
and to such disinteresting sublunary topics as the condition of 
his simple but more or less dilapidated wardrobe, than it does to 
"indomitable purposes" or to armies of a Lord who Mr. Red- 
path represents as being still alive. He wrote, June 22d : 96 
In answer to your questions about what you will need for 
your company, I would say that I have an acre of corn that 
looks very well, and some beans and squashes and turnips. 
You will want to get some pork and meal, and beans enough 
to last till the crop comes in, and then I think we will have 
enough grain to last through the winter. I will have a house 
up by the time you get here. My boots are very near worn 

95 Villard, 77. 

96 Sanborn, 198. 



82 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 

out, and I shall need some summer pants and a hat. I bought 

an ax and that you will not have to get. 

In a series of thirty-eight letters, published in Mr. Sanborn's 
Life and Letters of John Brown, commencing with the date, 
January 18, 1841 ; and ending with the letter herein, of October 
14, 1855, there is not an expression relating to slavery that has 
not been heretofore quoted or referred to in this work. That 
Mr. Sanborn was a partisan writer, and that he sifted Brown's 
correspondence in a search for letters which could be quoted in 
support of the assumptions of these and other panegyrists, con- 
cerning his alleged hostility to slavery, will not be denied. 
Their assumptions are therefore, wholly fanciful ; there is not 
a sentence contained in any of these letters, that can be quoted 
in justification of them. The attributes put forth in these eulo- 
gies are not only gratuitous, but they are illogical and incon- 
sistent with Brown's circumstances, and incompatible with his 
environment. Mrs. Anne Brown Adams in a few plain words 
told why John Brown went to Kansas. She said : 

Father said his object in going to Kansas was to see if 

something would not turn up to his advantage. 97 

The often repeated statement that Brown came to Kansas 
"to fight," and not "to settle" after the manner of other im- 
migrants, is further discredited in this history. 

Before the Mason Committee, in January, 1860, Mr. Wm. F. 
Amy, who knew Brown to have been a non-resistant, testified 
that he had conversed with him in Kansas, in 1858 ; and that he, 
on that occasion, asked him "how he reconciled his opinions 
then, with the peace principles which he held when he knew 
him in Virginia twenty years before. To this Brown replied, 
that the 'aggressions of slavery, the murders and robbery per- 
petrated upon himself and members of his family, the lawless- 
ness by Atchison and others in 1855 and from that time down 

97 Sanborn's Recollections of Seventy Years, 152. 



HIS PUBLIC SERVICES 83 

to the Maris-des-Cygnes, convinced him that peace was but an 

empty word.' " 98 

Before the same committee Mr. Augustus Wattles testified : " 

Captain Brown told me that he had no idea of fighting until 
he heard the Missourians, during the winter he was there, 
make arrangements to come over into the Territory to vote. 
He said to me that he had not come to Kansas to settle him- 
self, having left his family at North Elba, but that he had 
come to assist his sons in their settlement and to defend them, 
if necessary, in a peaceable exercise of their political rights. 

Writing to his wife February 1, 1856, Brown said: 

The idea of again visiting those of my dear family at North 
Elba is so calculated to unman me, that I seldom allow my 
thoughts to dwell upon it. 

This language bears the interpretation that he had located 
with the other members of his family in Kansas, and that a re- 
turn to North Elba would be in the nature of a visit. 

Brown told Mr. Arney that it was his intention, originally, 
to settle in Kansas. In his testimony before the Mason Com- 
mittee, he said: "He (Brown) then referred to the fact that 
he had sent his sons into the Territory of Kansas in 1853 or 
1854 with a lot of blooded cattle and other stock with the in- 
tention of settling." 10 ° There is presumptive evidence too, 
that he did "settle" in Kansas and that he did take a claim ; also 
that it was "jumped." In a letter to Brown dated June 24, 
1857, the late Wm. A. Phillips wrote as follows: 101 "Your 
old claim I believe, has been jumped. If you do not desire to 
contest it, let me suggest that you make a new settlement at 
some good point of which you will be the head. Lay off a 
town and take claims around it." 

Among the real conditions of poverty described by Brown in 

98 Mason Report, 86. Testimony of Wm. F. Amy. 

99 Mason Report, 225. Testimony of Augustus Wattles. 

100 Mason Report, 75. 

101 Sanborn, 397. 
e 



84 JOHN BROWN: A CRITIQUE 

his letters of October 13th and 14th, and with but "sixty cents" 
in his pocket, it is irrational to assume that he was free to move 
"where he pleased" or that he was "free to devote every 
thought," or any of his thoughts, for that matter, to this "bat- 
tling" business. He was not "emancipated from the counter 
and the harrow," and from his natural obligation to continue 
to provide for the dependent wife and children, who were suf- 
fering the acute privations of poverty in a miserable home. 
The letters quoted are evidence of the domestic character of the 
thoughts which occupied his mind, and of his deep solicitude 
for the wants of his family. They are earnest letters, written 
about the pressing affairs of his domestic life, by a man of more 
than ordinary experience. He dismisses any reference to the 
subject of the "driving force of a mighty and unselfish pur- 
pose," with the moderate and sensible opinion, that the "pros- 
pect of Kansas becoming a Free state is brightening every 
day." 

November 2, 1855, Brown wrote a long and interesting letter 
to his wife about affairs in their Kansas home, concluding with 
this very conservative and peaceful statement : "I feel more 
and more confident that slavery will soon die out here, — and 
to God be the praise." 102 The letter is as follows : 

Brownsville, K. T., Nov. 2, 1855. 
Dear Wife and Children, Every One — 

I feel grateful to learn that you were all then well, and I 
think I fully sympathize with you in all the hardships and 
discouragements you have to meet ; but you may be assured 
you are not alone in having trials. I believe I wrote you that 
we found everyone here more or less unwell but Wealthy and 
Johnny, without any sort of a place where a stout man even 
could protect himself from the cutting, cold winds and 
storms, which prevail here, much more than in any place 
where we have ever lived; and no crops of hay or anything 
raised had been taken care of; with corn wasting by cattle 
102 Sanborn, 203. 



HIS PUBLIC SERVICES 85 

and horses, without fences ; and, I may add without any 
meat ; and Jason's folks without sugar, or any kind of bread 
stuffs but corn ground with great labor in a hand-mill about 
two miles off. Since I wrote you before, Wealthy, Johnny, 
Elen and myself have escaped being sick. Some have had 
the ague, but lightly ; but Jason and Oliver have had a hard 
time of it and are yet feeble. Under existing circumstances, 
we have made but little progress ; but we have made a little. 
We have got a shanty three logs high, chinked and mudded 
and roofed with our tent; and a chimney so far advanced 
that we can keep a fire in it for Jason. John has his shanty a 
little better fixed than it was, but miserable enough now ; and 
we have got their little crop of beans secured, which, together 
with johnny cake, mush and milk, pumpkins and squashes, 
constitute our fare. Potatoes they have none of any account ; 
milk, beans, pumpkins and squashes, a very moderate supply 
just for the present use. We have also got a few house logs 
cut for Jason. I do not send you this account to render you 
more unhappy but merely to let you know that those here 
are not altogether in paradise, while you have to stay in that 
miserable frosty region. ... I feel more and more con- 
fident that slavery will soon die out here, — and to God be 
the praise ! . . . 

November 23d, he wrote : 

Since Watson wrote, I have felt a great deal troubled 
about your prospects for a cold house to winter in, and since 
I wrote last, I have thought of a cheap, ready way to help it 
much. Take any common straight-edged boards, and run 
them from the ground up to the eaves, barn fashion, not driv- 
ing the nails in so far but that they may easily be drawn, 
covering all but doors and windows, as close as may be in 
that way, and breaking joints if need be. This can be done 
by any one and in any weather not very severe, and the 
boards may afterwards mostly be saved for other uses. I 
think much too, of your widowed state, and I sometimes al- 
low myself to dream a little of again sometime enjoying the 
comforts of a home ; but I do not dare to dream much. . . 



86 JOHN BROWN: A CRITIQUE 

There were no disturbances in the Territory until the latter 
part of November, when the "Wakurusa War" became im- 
minent. On the 27th the following dispatch was sent from 
Westport : 

Hon. E. C. McLaren, Jefferson City — Governor Shannon 
has ordered out the militia against Lawrence. They are now 
in open rebellion against the laws. Jones is in danger. 
December 6th, notice was sent out to all Free- State men to 
come to Lawrence. John Brown, with others from the vicinity 
of Osawatomie, answered the call, and upon their arrival at 
Lawrence he was appointed a captain in the Fifth Regiment, 
Kansas Volunteers. The men from Brown's neighborhood 
were assigned to his company which was named the "Liberty 
Guards." 

There has been much controversy concerning Brown's actions 
during this brief but very interesting campaign ; due, in some 
instances, perhaps, to political contention, but principally to the 
efforts of his biographers and eulogists to make him appear as a 
conspicuous figure in the proceedings, the hero of the occasion. 
However, Brown's plain sensible letter, written to his wife at 
the time, giving her a full and interesting account of what oc- 
curred, will be accepted by all sane persons, as evidence of what 
did occur, as well as evidence of his personal opinions of all 
matters pertaining thereto, so far as they came under his ob- 
servation. His letter is as follows : 103 

Osawatomie, K. T., Dec. 16, 1855. 
Sabbath Evening. 
Dear Wife and Children, Every One — I improve the 
first mail since my return from the camp of volunteers, who 
lately turned out for the defense of the town of Lawrence in 
this Territory, and notwithstanding, I suppose you have 
learned the result before this, (possibly), I will give a brief 
account of the invasion in my own way. 

About three or four weeks ago news came that a Free- 

10 3 Sanborn, 217. 



HIS PUBLIC SERVICES 87 

State man by the name of Dow had been murdered by a pro- 
slavery man by the name of Coleman, who had gone and 
given himself up for trial to the pro-slavery Governor Shan- 
non. This was soon followed by further news that a Free 
State man, who was the only reliable witness against the 
murderer had been seized by a Missourian (appointed sheriff 
by the bogus Legislature of Kansas) upon false pretexts, ex- 
amined, and held to bail under such heavy bonds, to answer 
to those false charges, as he could not give ; that while on his 
way to trial, in charge of the bogus sheriff, he was rescued by 
some men belonging to a company near Lawrence ; and that 
in consequence of the rescue, Governor Shannon had ordered 
out all the pro-slavery force he could muster in the Terri- 
tory, and called on Missouri for further help; that about two 
thousand had collected, demanding a surrender of the res- 
cued witness and of the rescuers, the destruction of several 
buildings and printing-presses and a giving up of the 
Sharpe's rifles by the Free-State men, — threatening to de- 
stroy the town with cannon, with which they were provided, 
etc.; that about an equal number of Free-State men had 
turned out to resist them, and that a battle was hourly ex- 
pected or supposed to have been already fought. 

These reports appeared to be well authenticated, but we 
could get no further account of matters ; and I left this for 
the place where the boys are settled, at evening, intending to 
go to Lawrence to learn the facts the next day. John was, 
however, started on horseback, but before he had gone many 
rods, word came that our help was immediately wanted. On 
getting this last news, it was at once agreed to break up at 
John's camp, and take Wealthy and Johnny to Jason's camp 
(some two miles off), and that all the men but Henry, Jason, 
and Oliver should at once set off for Lawrence under arms ; 
those three being wholly unfit for duty. We then set about 
providing a little corn-bread and meat, blankets, and cooking 
utensils, running bullets and loading all our guns, pistols, 
etc. The five set off in the afternoon and after a short rest 
in the night (which was quite dark), continued our march 



88 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 

until after daylight next morning, when we got our break- 
fast, started again, and reached Lawrence in the forenoon, 
all of us more or less lamed by our tramp. On reaching the 
place, we found that negotiations had commenced between 
Governor Shannon (having a force of some fifteen or sixteen 
hundred men) and the principal leaders of the Free-State 
men, they having a force of some five hundred men at that 
time. These were busy, night and day, fortifying the town 
with embankments and circular earthworks, up to the time of 
the treaty with the Governor, as an attack was constantly 
looked for, notwithstanding the negotiations then pending. 
This state of things continued from Friday until Sunday 
evening. On the evening we left Osawatomie, a company of 
the invaders, of from fifteen to twenty-five attacked some 
three or four Free-State men, mostly unarmed, killing a Mr. 
Barber from Ohio, wholly unarmed. His body was after- 
ward brought in and lay for some days in the room after- 
wards occupied by a part of the company to which we belong 
(it being organized after we reached Lawrence). The build- 
ing was a large unfinished stone hotel, in which a great part 
of the volunteers were quartered, who witnessed the scene 
of bringing in the wife and other friends of the murdered 
man. I will only say of this scene that it was heart-rending, 
and calculated to exasperate the men exceedingly, and one of 
the sure results of civil war. 

After frequently calling on the leaders of the Free-State 
men to come and have an interview with him, by Governor 
Shannon, and after as often getting for an answer that if he 
had any business to transact with any one in Lawrence, to 
come and attend to it, he signified his wish to come into the 
town, and an escort was sent to the invaders' camp to conduct 
him in. When there, the leading Free-State men, finding out 
his weakness, frailty, and consciousness of the awkward cir- 
cumstances into which he had really got himself, took advan- 
tage of his cowardice and folly and by means of that and the 
free use of whiskey and some trickery succeeded in getting 
a written arrangement with him much to their own liking. 



HIS PUBLIC SERVICES 89 

He stipulated with them to order the pro-slavery men of Kan- 
sas home, and to proclaim to the Missouri invaders that they 
must quit the Territory without delay, and also to give up 
General Pomeroy (a prisoner in their camp), — which was 
all done ; he also recognizing the volunteers as the militia of 
Kansas, and empowering their officers to call them out when- 
ever in their discretion the safety of Lawrence or other por- 
tions of the Territory might require it to be done. He 
(Governor Shannon) gave up all pretension of further at- 
tempt to enforce the enactment of the bogus Legislature, and 
retired, subject to the derision and scoffs of the Free-State 
men (into whose hands he had committed the welfare and 
protection of Kansas), and to the pity of some, and the 
curses of others of the invading force. 

So ended this last Kansas invasion — the Missourians re- 
turning with flying colors, after incurring heavy expenses, 
suffering great exposure, hardships, and privations, not hav- 
ing fought any battles, burned or destroyed any infant towns 
or Abolition presses ; leaving the Free-State men organized 
and armed, and in full possession of the Territory ; not hav- 
ing fulfilled any of all their dreadful threatenings, except to 
murder one unarmed man, and to commit some robberies 
and waste of property upon defenseless families, unfortun- 
ately within their power. We learn by their papers that they 
boast of a great victory over the Abolitionists ; and well they 
may. Free-State men have only hereafter to retain the foot- 
ing they have gained, and Kansas is free. Yesterday the 
people passed upon the Free-State constitution. The result, 
though not yet known, no one doubts. . . . 

YVe have received fifty dollars from father, and learned 
from him that he has sent you the same amount, — for which 
we ought to be grateful, as we are much relieved, both as re- 
spects ourselves and you. . . 

This letter will always stand in its completeness as an official 
expression by John Brown of his entire satisfaction with every- 
thing that was done by the Free-State men on this occasion. 
The stipulations contained in the peace treaty not only covered 



90 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 

every point for which the Free-State men were contending, but 
gave them official recognition, in Territorial affairs, with au- 
thority therein far greater than they could have hoped to obtain. 
Brown's entire approval of the agreement, without any reserva- 
tion whatever, is clearly and fully expressed in the sentence : 
Free-State men have only hereafter to retain the footing 
they have gained and Kansas is free. 

No language could make his approval of what had been done 
more complete or specific; and yet, notwithstanding this un- 
equivocal record, by Brown himself, of his approval of what 
had been done, his biographers insist that he was not only dis- 
satisfied with the proceedings that were had, but that "the 
peace treaty itself produced in him only anger when he first 
heard of it." 

John Brown, boiling over with anger, mounted the shaky 
platform and addressed the audience when Robinson had fin- 
ished. He declared that Lawrence had been betrayed, and 
told his hearers that they should make a night attack upon 
the pro-slavery forces and drive them from the territory. "I 
am an Abolitionist," he said, "dyed in the wool," and then he 
offered to be one of ten men to make a night attack upon the 
Border Ruffian camp. Armed, and with lanterns, his plan 
was to string his men along the camp far apart. At a given 
signal in the early morning hours, they were to shout and 
fire on the slumbering enemy. 104 

That this speech will stand for all time, as a classic in the ex- 
isting melodramatic literature of John Brown, will be con- 
ceded. The novel plan of a night attack by ten men, furnished 
with lanterns, as targets, "strung far apart," against a force of 
fifteen hundred men, will, of itself, commend it to such recogni- 
tion. 

A summary of the speeches, recently referred to as "haran- 
gues," made by Governor Shannon, and by General Lane, and 
by Charles Robinson, on this occasion, was duly reported at the 
i°*Villard. 123. 



HIS PUBLIC SERVICES 91 

time and published throughout the country, for this was a not- 
able incident in our national history. But not a word was re- 
ported about Brown's speech. It ought to have been the cli- 
max — the fire-works — of the whole performance for he was 
the only one of the speakers who is said to have been "boiling 
over" with anything. It may be assumed however that if John 
Brown had made a violent speech from this platform on this 
occasion, the fact would have been reported by the reporter for 
the Herald of Freedom, who was present, and who felt very 
kindly toward him. It may be true that Brown did some 
grumbling in camp, or some loud talking somewhere, about the 
treaty which he may not have understood at the time. 

A very extended report of the incidents occurring in the 
"Wakurusa War" is contained in the Lawrence Herald of Free- 
dom of December 15, 1855, 105 from which the following are ex- 
tracts : 

Sunday the negotiations were resumed with Governor 
Shannon and finally completed, the substance of which was 
communicated to the people by the Governor. The settle- 
ment was received with satisfaction and yet the terms were 
not coincided in so fully as many supposed it would be. It 
was apparent that the Governor was in bad odor, as several 
attempts to get up cheers in his favor proved a failure, though 
no insult was shown him. 

Colonel Lane followed and was loudly cheered. He as- 
sured the public there had been no concession of honor and 
that the people of Lawrence and Kansas, would cheerfully 
acquiesce in the terms of the settlement as soon as they could 
learn the particulars. . . . 

General Robinson was also loudly cheered and congratu- 
lated by the people on account of the settlement. . . . 
The day closed by Governor Shannon giving General Rob- 
inson and Colonel Lane each a commission, and clothing them 
with full power to preserve the peace in the vicinity and to 
105 Copy in possession of Mr. Paul Brooks. Lawrence, Kansas. 



92 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 

use the volunteer force at their command for that purpose. 

Tuesday was full of animation. The soldiers were re- 
viewed and finally formed in a square and addressed by the 
commanding officers. General Lane spoke as follows : . . . 

At the close of General Lane's speech, he was vociferously 
cheered. 

General Robinson, as Commander in Chief, delivered the 
following speech which was loudly applauded. He said : 
". . . The moral strength of our position is such that 
even the 'gates of hell' could not prevail against us, much less 
a foreign mob and we gained a bloodless victory." ... As 
General Robinson closed, six cheers were given to him. 

Even a reporter and journalist so enterprising as James Red- 
path failed to know of Brown's much advertised speech. He 
said : 106 

I had no personal knowledge of his opposition to the 

Treaty of Peace. . . . The first time I heard of old 

Brown was in connection with a caucus at the town of Osa- 

watomie. 

It was not Redpath's fault that he did not then know John 
Brown or that he had not even heard of him. It was simply 
because Brown was an ordinary person, and had not done any- 
thing yet to attract public attention to his personality. Oppor- 
tunity did not happen to knock at his door on that occasion ; if 
it had. Brown, doubtless, would have acquitted himself credit- 
ably, and Mr. Redpath would have heard of him. As soon as 
Brown did even a little thing, Redpath heard of it promptly. 
April 16, 1856, a meeting or caucus was held at Osawatomie 
to consider the question of paying the taxes that had been levied 
by authority of the Territorial Legislature, and other public 
measures. To pay the taxes would be a recognition of the 
"Bogus Legislature" that had enacted the laws relating to taxa- 
tion. Richard Mendenhall was chairman of the meeting and 
Oscar V. Dayton was secretary. Brown, among others, spoke 

i° 6 Redpath, 103. 



HIS PUBLIC SERVICES 93 

in opposition to paying the taxes. There was nothing sensa- 
tional in this incident, but Redpath heard of the meeting and 
located Brown in his mind, because of it. Referring to the in- 
cident Mr. Redpath made this authoritative statement : 107 
"This was John Brown's first and last appearance in a public 
meeting in Kansas." Therefore, it appears that Mr. Villard 
has been imposed upon. 

Of Brown himself, the Herald published the following sane 
and restful paragraph : 

About noon Mr. John Brown, an aged gentleman from 
Essex County, New York, who has been a resident of the Ter- 
ritory for several months, arrived with four of his sons, — 
leaving several others at home sick, bringing a quantity of 
arms with him which were placed in his hands by eastern 
friends for the defense of the cause of freedom. Having 
more than he could well use to advantage, a portion of them 
were placed in the hands of those who were more destitute. 
A company was organized and the command given to Mr. 
Brown for the zeal he had exhibited in the cause of freedom, 
both before and after his arrival in the Territory. 108 

Brown, with his sons, returned to their homes December 
14th, and under that date, in a letter to Orson Day, he ex- 
pressed, further, his satisfaction with what had been accom- 
plished at Lawrence by the Free-State managers. He said : 
"The Territory is now entirely in the power of the Free-State 
men," and stated hopefully his opinion that "the Missourians 
will give up all further hope of making Kansas a slave state." 109 
January 1, 1856, he wrote from West Point, Missouri : "In this 
part of the state there seems to be but little feeling on the slave 
question." 110 

January 5th, a Free-State county convention was held at 

107 Redpath, 104. 

108 Herald of Freedom, December 15. 1855. 

109 Villard, 127. 

110 Ibid. 



94 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 

Osawatomie to nominate candidates for members of the Free- 
State Legislature. The Browns took a prominent part in the 
proceedings. John Brown was chairman of the meeting. 
Frederick Brown received the nomination for member of the 
House of Representatives, but at the request of his father, he 
declined the nomination, and it was given to John Brown, Jr. 

With his participation in this convention, John Brown closed 
his public services. Later — probably during March — he 
abandoned his honorable commission as captain of the "Liberty 
Guards," disbanded the company, and with his sons, Owen, 
Salmon, Frederick. Oliver, and his son-in-law, Henry Thomp- 
son, planned and decided to abandon the Free-State cause, en- 
ter upon a career of crime, and leave the neighborhood. The 
course was agreed upon with John Brown, Jr., as accessory 
thereto ; but not with the knowledge of Jason Brown. These 
men comprised John Brown's "little company of six" who, with 
others, committed the robbery on the Pottawatomie on the night 
of May 24th — a robbery that included in the plans for its ex- 
ecution, the murder of seven persons, five of whom fell beneath 
the blows of the assassins. 



CHAPTER V 

ROBBERY AND MURDER ON THE POTTAWATOMIE 

A blush as of roses 

Where rose never grew! 
Great drops on the bunch-grass 

But not of the dew! 
A taint in the szveet air 

For wild bees to shun! 
A stain that zvill never 

Bleach out in the sun! 

Back, steed of the prairies! 
Sweet song bird, fly back! 
Wheel hither, bald vulture! 
Gray wolf, call thy pack ! 
The foul human vultures 
Have feasted and fled; 
The wolves of the Border 
Have crept from the dead. 
— From Le Marais du Cygne. Whittier 

From a rude home in the bleak mountains of northern New 
York, John Brown went to Kansas ; not for the purpose of fight- 
ing, but inspired by the hope of bettering his shattered fortunes ; 
a hope that withered in the budding, and gave place to feelings 
of deep disappointment and discouragement. He wrote Feb- 
ruary 1st: 

It is now nearly six weeks that the snow has almost con- 
stantly been driven, like dry sand, by the fierce winds of 
Kansas. By means of the sale of our horse and wagon, our 
present wants are tolerably well met ; so that, if health is con- 
tinued to us, we shall not probably suffer much. . . . 



96 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 

Thermometer on Sunday and Monday at twenty-eight to 
twenty-nine below zero. Ice in the river, in the timber, and 
under the snow, eighteen inches thick this week. . . . 
Jason down again with the ague, but he was some better yes- 
terday. Oliver was also laid up by freezing his toes, — one 
great toe so badly frozen that the nail has come off. He 
will be crippled for some days yet. Owen has one foot 
frozen. We have middling tough times (as some would call 
them) but have enough to eat, and abundant reason for the 
most unfeigned gratitude. . . . in 

These were hard conditions. It would be difficult to im- 
agine circumstances of greater discomfort and hopelessness. 
But what about the future — the future for himself and for the 
wife and the daughters depending upon him for the necessaries 
of life, for whose benefit he had come to Kansas? Did Brown 
think of them? Present inconvenience and privation may be 
borne with fortitude if the future holds out a promise of better- 
ment. In his case we may reasonably assume that the problems 
of the future, rather than the present conditions and discourage- 
ments, engrossed his thoughts. It is altogether unreasonable 
to suppose that this unscrupulous man of affairs — this restless, 
aggressive speculator — sat listlessly, amid his environment of 
discomfort and poverty, and permitted the dreary months to 
pass without thinking of his precarious financial condition, and 
of the incessantly urgent family responsibilities impending ; and 
of the possibilities of bettering his fortunes in the immediate 
future. His biographers have wisely avoided discussion of the 
practical side of Brown's condition at this time, preferring to 
wander in more intangible fields, and to speculate upon the 
emotional and metaphysical phenomena they seek to involve in 
the situation. The record of his life at this time, however, re- 
veals the fact that Brown did think of the future and of its re- 
sponsibilities ; and that he did mature a plan to better his finan- 
cial condition. Also, that his plan was in harmony with his 
111 Sanborn, 222. 



ROBBERY AND MURDER 97 

latest and best biographer's estimate of his character: "It was 
not only that he was visionary as a business man," 112 says Mr. 
Villard, "but that he developed the fatal tendency to speculate ; 
doubtless the outgrowth of his restlessness, and the usual desire 
of the bankrupt for a sudden coup to restore his fortune." To 
his wife he wrote as follows: 

Brown's Station, K. T., April 7, 1856. 
Dear Wife and Children, Every One, — I wrote you 
last week, . . . We do not want you to borrow trouble 
about us, but trust us to the care of "Him who feeds the 
young ravens when they cry." I have, as usual, but little to 
write. We are doing off a house for Orson Day, which we 
hope to get through with soon ; after which we shall prob- 
ably soon leave this neighborhood, but will advise you fur- 
ther when we leave. It may be that Watson can manage to 
get a little money for shearing sheep if you do not get any 
from Connecticut. I still hope you will get help from that 
source. We have no wars as yet, but we still have abund- 
ance of "rumors." We still have frosty nights, but the grass 
starts a little. There are none of us complaining much just 
now, all being able to do something. John has just returned 
from Topeka, not having met with any difficulty ; but we hear 
that preparations are making in the United States Court for 
numerous arrests of Free State men. For one, I have no de- 
sire (all things considered) to have the slave power cease 
from its acts of aggression. "Their foot shall slide in due 
time." May God bless and keep you all. 

Your affectionate husband and father, 

John Brown. 
This letter foreshadows the turning point in John Brown's 
career. It discloses the fact that he and his sons intended to 
engage in an enterprise that was related to danger, against 
which he sought to quiet his wife's apprehensions. The letter 
also foreshadows the fact that as a result of what they intended 
to do, they would probably leave the neighborhood; but as to 
112 Villard, 31. 



98 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 

either the nature of the undertaking which they had in view, or 
the time at which the venture would be executed, she would not 
be informed until they left the country. It discloses further 
the significant fact, that his attitude toward the Free-State 
cause had undergone a change. That instead of treasuring in 
his heart a patriotic desire to win freedom for Kansas by peace- 
able means, he had assumed a hostile attitude. He now de- 
sired, not peace, but war. 

Three important facts appear at this point in Brown's his- 
tory : That he had decided to do something of a dangerous 
character and leave the neighborhood ; that he desired a revival 
of pro-slavery aggressions ; and that he had disbanded the "Lib- 
erty Guards." 

On the 16th of April, 1856, John Brown, Jr., was in com- 
mand of the "Pottawatomie Rifles." 113 He said : "During 
the winter of 1856, I raised a company of riflemen, from the 
Free-State settlers who had their homes in the vicinity of Osa- 
watomie and Pottawatomie Creek." 114 James Townsley, in 
his "confession," made December 6, 1879, said: "I joined the 
Pottawatomie Rifle Company at its reorganization in May, 
1856, at which time John Brown, Jr., was elected captain." 

Why Brown should desire a revival of pro-slavery aggres- 
sions, if he intended to leave the neighborhood ; and what he in- 
tended to do, are important questions in this analysis which his 
versatile biographers have failed to attempt to explain. Brown 
could not have desired a provocation from the pro-slavery peo- 
ple because he wanted an opportunity to fight — to march 
against them at the head of the "Liberty Guards," and "stagger 
the slave-power by the driving force of his iron will ;" — for he 
intended to leave the neighborhood; he intended to go away 
from the scene of the prospective aggressions. He was no 
longer "Captain of the Liberty Guards," but a private citizen ; 
therefore, he must have desired an outbreak of pro-slavery hos- 

"svillard, 136. 

114 Sanborn, 237, note 3. 



ROBBERY AND MURDER 99 

tility for personal reasons ; for reasons relating to operations 
which he intended to engage in with Henry Thompson as an 
associate; who wrote, equivocally, to his wife in May, 1856, 
that "Upon Brown's plans would depend his own, until School 
is out." 

The operations that Brown and his four unmarried sons and 
Henry Thompson engaged in immediately after the letter con- 
taining this extract was written, show that the "plans" therein 
referred to related to the capital tragedy in the history of Kan- 
sas Territory. These plans provided for the theft of a large 
number of horses on Pottawatomie Creek. The horses were 
duly stolen by Brown and his band. To make the theft pos- 
sible, and personally safe, they planned to quietly assassinate 
the owners of the horses. To avoid identification, and to dis- 
pose of the horses which they intended to steal, they planned to 
deliver them to confederates, who would run them out of the 
neighborhood ; and, at the same time, they were to receive from 
such confederates horses of a more desirable character — fast 
running horses — which were to be brought from the northern 
part of the Territory to a designated rendezvous. 

It was the original intention to steal four lots of horses and 
murder seven men. The persons murdered in pursuance of 
their plans were John Doyle and two of his sons, Hon. Allen 
Wilkinson, and William Sherman. Those who escaped death 
were Henry Sherman, a brother of William, and another person 
whose name has been withheld from publication. 115 The silent 
weapons used in these murders were some of the short swords, 
ground to a keen edge, that Brown had brought with him when 
he came to the Territory. The unfortunate victims, in holding 
up their arms in vain attempts to shield their heads from im- 
pending blows, were struck upon their forearms and hands; 
these in some instances were almost severed from their bodies. 
The heads of the murdered men, except in the case of Doyle, 

"sVillard, 158. 



100 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 

were split open and their bodies otherwise mutilated. In the 
case of Doyle, he was shot in the head ; and in addition thereto, 
a sword was run through his breast. He was the first victim 
of the tragedies. The shot which struck him was the only shot 
that was fired in these murders, and the firing of it stands 
charged to John Brown himself. Of this M,r. Villard says : 116 
"Salmon Brown will not positively state that his father fired it 
but admits that no one else pulled a trigger." 

An account in detail of these murders is found in the testi- 
mony of the widows of Doyle and Wilkinson, and of James 
Harris, and others, taken before Hon. M. N. Oliver, of Mis- 
souri, minority member of a congressional committee of which 
Hon. W. A. Howard was chairman. The committee was ap- 
pointed in 1855 to investigate and report to Congress upon the 
troubles in Kansas. The character of the evidence brought out 
in this investigation incriminated the Browns ; but for more than 
twenty years thereafter the surviving members of the family 
stoutly denied having any participation in the crime. Even at 
Harper's Ferry, when standing within the shadow of the gal- 
lows, John Brown denied having had anything to do with it. 
To Judge Russell "the prisoner reiterated his assertion often 
made in those prison days that he was not personally concerned 
in the Pottawatomie murders." 117 But after the confession of 
James Townsley, his biographers and friends were forced to 
acknowledge Brown's directing hand in the crime. Since that 
time, they have continuously sought, by various pretexts — de- 
fensive, patriotic and altruistic — to justify him in the killing 
of these men ; and to distract attention away from the real motive 
that prompted it ; with the result that they have thus far suc- 
ceeded in so agitating discussion upon the merits of the mur- 
ders, as to concentrate public attention upon that feature of the 
crime — the murders — and to eliminate or silence anv allusion 



"« Villard, 159. 
117 Villard. 545. 



ROBBERY AND MURDER 101 

whatever to the fundamental feature of it — robbery. As 
a consequence of their propaganda, writers of history have 
not made any reference to the robberies to which the mur- 
ders were subordinate and incidental. After the manner of 
sheep, they have followed the lead of Brown's eulogists into the 
interesting field of metaphysics ; and have there engaged in 
profitless speculation upon Brown's mental processes, and the 
probable psychical impulses which may have controlled his ac- 
tions. 118 

The confession of James Townsley is as follows : 

I joined the Potawatomie rifle company at its reorganiza- 
tion in May, 1856, at which time John Brown, Jr., was 
elected captain. On the 21st of the same month information 
was received that the Georgians were marching on Law- 
rence, threatening its destruction. The company was imme- 
diately called together, and about four o'clock p. m. we 
started on a forced march to aid in its defense. 

About two miles south of Middle Creek, we were joined 
by the Osawatomie company under Captain Dayton, and pro- 
ceeded to Mount Vernon, where we waited about two hours, 
until the moon rose. We then marched all night, camping 
the next morning, the 22nd, for breakfast, near Ottawa 
Jones's. Before we arrived at this point, news had been re- 
ceived that Lawrence had been destroyed, and a question 
was raised whether we should return or go on. During the 
forenoon, however, we proceeded up Ottawa Creek to within 
about five miles of Palmyra, and went into camp near the 
residence of Captain Shore. Here we remained, undecided, 
over night. About noon the next day, the 23rd, Old John 
Brown came to me and said he had just received information 
that trouble was expected on the Potawatomie, and wanted to 
know if I would take my team and take him and his boys 
back, so they could keep watch on what was going on. I 

118 L. W. Spring in his History of Kansas says of him on page 138: 
"Whatever else may be laid to his charge — whatever rashness, unwisdom, 
equivocation, bloodiness — no faintest trace of self-seeking stains his 
Kansas life." 



102 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 

told him I would do so. The party, consisting of Old John 
Brown, Watson Brown, Oliver Brown, Henry Thompson, 
(John Brown's son-in-law), and Mr. Winer, were soon 
ready for the trip and we started, as near as I can remember, 
about two o'clock p. m. All of the party except Winer, who 
rode a pony, rode with me in my wagon. When within two 
or three miles of Potawatomie Creek, we turned off the main 
road to the right, drove down to the edge of the timber be- 
tween two deep ravines, and camped about one mile above 
Dutch Henry's crossing. . . . We remained in camp 
that night and all the next day. Some time after dark we 
were ordered to march. 

We started, the whole company, in a northerly direction, 
crossing Mosquito Creek, above the residence of the Doyles. 
Soon after crossing the creek, some one of the party knocked 
at the door of a cabin, but received no reply — I have for- 
gotten whose cabin it was, if I knew at the time. 

The next place we came to was the residence of the 
Doyles. John Brown, three of his sons, and son-in-law, 
went to the door, leaving Frederick Brown, Winer, and my- 
self, a short distance from the house. About this time a 
large dog attacked us. Frederick Brown struck the dog a 
blow with his short two edged sword, after which I dealt him 
a blow with my sabre, and heard no more of him. The old 
man Doyle and two sons were called out and marched some 
distance from the house toward Dutch Henry's, in the road, 
where a halt was made. Old John Brown drew a revolver 
and shot the old man Doyle in the forehead and Brown's 
two youngest sons immediately fell upon the younger Doyles 
with their short two-edged swords. 

One of the young Doyles was stricken down in an instant, 
but the other attempted to escape, and was pursued a short 
distance by his assailant and cut down. The company then 
proceeded down Mosquito Creek to the house of Allen Wil- 
kinson. Here the old man Brown, three of his sons, and 
son-in-law as at the Doyle residence, went to the door and 
ordered Wilkinson to come out, leaving Frederick Brown, 



ROBBERY AND MURDER 103 

Winer, and myself standing in the road east of the house. 
Wilkinson was taken and marched some distance south of his 
house and slain in the road, with a short sword, by one of the 
younger Browns. After he was killed, his body was dragged 
out to one side and left. 

We then crossed the Potawatomie and came to the house 
of Henry Sherman, generally known as Dutch Henry. Here 
John Brown and the party, excepting Frederick Brown, 
Winer, and myself, who were left outside a short distance 
from the door, went into the house and brought out one or 
two persons, talked with them some, and then took them in 
again. They afterwards brought out William Sherman, 
Dutch Henry's brother, marched him down into the Pota- 
watomie Creek, where he was slain with swords, by Brown's 
two youngest sons, and left lying in the creek. ... 

James Townsley. 

Lane, Kansas, December 6, 1879. 

From this statement it appears that John Brown set the ex- 
ample for his sons to follow by killing Doyle. "Old John 
Brown drew his revolver and shot old man Doyle in the fore- 
head, and Brown's two younger sons immediately fell upon the 
younger Doyles with their short, two edged swords." 

Mrs. Doyle, in her testimony said : 

. . . My son John was spared because I asked them in 
tears to spare him. . . . 

The son testified : 

I found my father and one brother, William, lying dead in 
the road about two hundred yards from the house. I saw 
my other brother lying dead on the ground about one hun- 
dred and fifty yards from the house, in the grass, near a ra- 
vine, his fingers were cut off, and his arms were cut off ; his 
head was cut open ; there was a hole in his breast. William's 
head was cut open, and a hole was in his jaw, as though it 
was made by a knife, and a hole was in his side. My father 
was shot in the forehead and stabbed in the breast. 119 
119 Howard Report, 1175. 



104 JOHN BROWN: A CRITIQUE 

Allen Wilkinson was the postmaster for the community, and 
was a member of the Territorial Legislature. Like Doyle, he 
was married, and had a family of small children. Mrs. Wilkin- 
son states that the persons who murdered her husband, came to 
their home after midnight, and after knocking at the door, in- 
quired "the way to Dutch Henry's." Wilkinson began to tell 
them, but they told him to "come out and show them." Her 
testimony is in part as follows : 

. . . One of them said, "You are our prisoner. Do 
you surrender?" He said, "Gentlemen, I do." They said, 
"Open the door." Mr. Wilkinson told them to wait till he 
made a light and they replied, "If you don't open it, we will 
open it for you." He opened the door against my wishes, 
and four men came in and my husband was told to put on his 
clothes, and they asked him if there were not more men 
about. They searched for arms, and took a gun and powder 
flask, all the weapon that was about the house. . . . They 
then took my husband away. One of them came back and 
took two saddles. I asked him what they were going to do 
with him and he said, "Take him a prisoner to the camp." 
. . . After they were gone, I thought I heard my hus- 
band's voice, in complaint, but do not know ; went to the door 
and all was still. Next morning Mr. Wilkinson was found 
about one hundred and fifty yards from the house dead, in 
some bushes. A lady who saw my husband's body said, 
that there was a gash in his head and in his side ; others said 
he was cut in the throat twice. 120 

James Harris, at whose house William Sherman was staying 
on the night of May 24th, states in his testimony, what came 
under his observation. Harris was a day laborer. He testi- 
fied in part as follows : 

On last Sunday morning about two> o'clock (the 25th of 
last May) whilst my wife and child and myself were in bed 
in the house where we lived, we were aroused by a company 
i 20 Howard Report, 1179. 



ROBBERY AND MURDER 105 

of men who said they belonged to the Northern army, and 
who were each armed with a sabre and two revolvers, two of 
whom I recognized, namely, a Mr. Brown, whose name I do 
not remember, commonly known by the appellation of "old 
man Brown" and his son Owen Brown. . . . When 
they came up to the bed, some had drawn sabres in their 
hands, and some revolvers. They then took possession of 
two rifles and a Bowie knife which I had with me in the room 
— there was but one room in my house — and afterward 
ransacked the whole establishment after ammunition. . . . 
They asked me where Henry Sherman was. Henry Sher- 
man was a brother to William Sherman. I told them that 
he was out on the plains in search of some cattle that he had 
lost. They asked me if there were any bridles or saddles 
about the premises. I told them there was one saddle which 
they took, and they also took possession of Henry Sherman's 
horse which I had at my place, and made me saddle him. 
They then said if I would answer no, to all questions which 
they asked me, they would let [me] loose. Old Mr. Brown 
and his son then went into the house with me. . . . Old 
man Brown asked Mr. Sherman to go out with him, and Air. 
Sherman then went out with old man Brown, and another 
man came into the house in Brown's place. I heard nothing 
more for about fifteen minutes. Two of the northern army, 
as they styled themselves, stayed on with us until we heard 
a cap burst and then these two men left. That morning 
about ten o'clock I found William Sherman dead in the creek 
near my house. I was looking for Mr. Sherman ; as he had 
not come back, I thought he had been murdered. I took 
Mr. William Sherman out of the creek and examined him. 
Mr. Whiteman was with me. Sherman's skull was split 
open in two places, and some of his brains was washed out 
by the water. A large hole was cut in his breast, and his 
left hand was cut off except a little piece of skin on one 
side. We buried him. 121 



12i Howard Report, \\77 . 



106 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 

It should be remembered that prior to the date of these mur- 
ders and robberies, the zone of conflict in the Territory had 
been confined within the limits of Douglas, Leavenworth, and 
Atchison counties. Also, that the settlers living south of Doug- 
las county had, up to this time, enjoyed the repose and benefits 
of a condition of profound peace; and that during all of the 
time that Brown was formulating his plans to rob and murder 
his unsupecting neighbors, the "Shannon Treaty" was in full 
force and effect, and a season of peace prevailing throughout 
the whole Territory. Mr. Villard says of this period : 122 
Not a single person had been killed in the region around 
Osawatomie either by the lawless characters, or by armed 
representatives of the pro-slavery cause. The instances of 
brutality or murder narrated in the preceding chapters, all 
took place miles to the north in the vicinity of Lawrence or 
Leavenworth. 

And John Brown himself, in his speech before a committee of 
the Massachusetts Legislature, February 18, 1857, said: 123 
Things do not look one iota more encouraging now than 
they did last year at this time. You may remember that from 
the Shannon Treaty, (December 9th, 1856) which ended the 
Wakarusa war, till early in May, 1856, there was general 
quiet in Kansas. No violence was offered to our citizens 
when they went to Missouri. I frequently went there myself 
to buy corn and other supplies. I was known there, yet they 
treated me well. 

Some of Buford's men had been in the neighborhood but they 
were not brutal toward the Free-State settlers. There was a 
potent restraining influence controlling their conduct. They 
were at the time on the pay roll of the General Government as 
deputy United States marshals, and the respectability and re- 
sponsibility of their official positions demanded reasonably 
proper behavior on their part. 124 

122 villard, 171. 

123 Sanborn. 373. and Redpath, 184. 
12* Von Hoist, 301. 



ROBBERY AND MURDER 107 

The most important evidence upon the important subject 
under consideration, appears in Brown's letter to his wife, writ- 
ten after his fight at Black Jack; and in a personal statement 
made by John Brown, Jr., to F. B. Sanborn. The letter is, in 
part, as follows : 125 

Near Brown's Station, K. T., June, 1856. 
Dear Wife and Children, Every One, — It is now about 
five weeks since I have seen a line from North Elba, or had 
any chance of writing you. During that period we have 
passed through an almost constant series of very trying 
events. We were called to go to the relief of Lawrence, 
May 22, and every man (eight in all), except Orson turned 
out; he staying with the women and children and to take 
care of the cattle. John was captain of a company to which 
Jason belonged; the other six were a little company by our- 
selves. 12511 On our way to Lawrence we learned that it had 
been already destroyed, and we encamped with John's com- 
pany over night. Next day our little company left and dur- 
ing the day we stopped and searched three men. . . . 

On the second day and evening after we left John's men, 
we encountered quite a number of proslavery men and took 
quite a number of prisoners. Our prisoners we let go, but 
we kept some four or five horses. We were immediately 
after this, accused of murdering five men at Pottawatomie 
and great efforts have since been made by the Missourians 
and their ruffian allies to capture us. John's company soon 
afterward disbanded, and also the Osawatomie men. 126 

Since then, we have, like David of old, had our dwelling 
with the serpents of the rocks and wild beasts of the wilder- 
ness ; being obliged to hide away from our enemies. We are 
not disheartened, though nearly destitute of food, clothing 
and money. God, who has not given us over to the will of 

125 Sanborn. 236. 

125a Italicised by the author. 

126 "In the original something has been effaced and this note seems to 
have been appended : 'There are but very few who wish the real facts 
about these matters to go out.' Then is inserted the date 'June 26' as be- 
low." — Sanborn, 237. 



108 JOHN BROWN: A CRITIQUE 

our enemies, but has moreover delivered them into our hand, 
will we humbly trust, still keep and deliver us. We feel as- 
sured that He who sees not as men see, does not lay the guilt 
of innocent blood to our charge. 

If, under God, this letter reaches you so that it can be read, 
I wish it at once carefully copied, and a copy of it sent to 
Gerrit Smith. I know of no other way to get these facts 
and our situation before the world, nor when I can write 
again. . . . 

The statement that John Brown, Jr., made to Mr. Sanborn 
is, in part, as follows : 127 

We got back to Osawatomie from our five days' cam- 
paign, toward evening on the 26th of May. ... I took 
my rifle and horse and went into the ravine on Mr. Adair's 
land, remaining there through that day (May 27) and the 
following night. About four o'clock p. m. I was joined by 
my brother Owen, who had been informed at Mr. Adair's of 
my whereabouts. He brought with him into the brush a 
valuable running horse, mate of the one I had with me. 
These horses had been taken by Free-State men near the Ne- 
braska line and exchanged for horses obtained in the way of 
reprisals further south ; and while on foot a few miles south 
of Ottawa Jones's place, May 26, I had been offered one of 
these to ride the remaining distance to Osawatomie. Owen's 
horse was wet with sweat ; and he told me of the narrow 
escape he had just had from a number of armed pro-slavery 
men who had their headquarters at Tooley's, — a house at 
the foot of the hill, about a mile and a half west of Mr. 
Adair's. Their guards, seeing him in the road coming down 
the hill, gave a signal and at once the whole gang were in hot 
chase. The superior fleetness of the horse Owen rode alone 
saved him. He exchanged horses with me, and that night 
forded the Marais des Cygnes, and going by Stanton, (or 
Standiford as it was sometimes called), recrossed the river 
to father's camp about a mile north of the house of Mr. Day. 
127 Sanborn, 275. 



ROBBERY AND MURDER 109 

Until Owen told me that night, I did not know where father 

could be found. . . . 

Referring to a horse whose mane and tail had been shaved — 
"Dutch Henry's gray pony" — Mir. Sanborn states: 128 "This 
horse was soon taken to northern Kansas by some Free State 
men who gave in exchange for that and other horses captured 
on the Pottawatomie, some fast Kentucky horses, on one of 
which Owen Brown afterward escaped from his pursuers." 

But John Brown, Jr., received his fast running horse on the 
morning of May 26th and "upon a mate to it" Owen Brown 
escaped from his pursuers on the same day near Osawatomie. 
Therefore, the exchange of the horses "taken as reprisals" on 
the Pottawatomie, for the fast running horses, was not made in 
northern Kansas some time afterward, as Mr. Sanborn states, 
but was made immediately after the robbery — May 25th or 
26th — at the appointed time and place ; probably on Middle 
Creek. 

These statements, made by John Brown, and by his son, com- 
plete the recorded evidence of Brown's plan to retrieve his shat- 
tered fortunes by a plunge in horse stealing. It shows that he 
was in partnership with others in the transaction, and that his 
confederates brought the northern horses, eight at least, to the 
appointed rendezvous and delivered them to him. It shows 
also, that John Brown, Jr., was in his father's confidence, and 
that he knew enough about his father's plans and of what had 
been done on the night of the 24th, to enable him to walk to a 
point "a few miles south of Ottawa Jones's place" where he 
was "offered one of the northern horses," and accepted it as his 
own. 

Who Brow r n's confederates were in this transaction, except 
as to Weiner, is as yet unknown. Salmon Brown still guards 
the sacred secret. But it is probable that the "mysterious 
courier," who came to the camp of the Pottawatomie Rifles on 

128 Sanborn, 271. 



110 JOHN BROWN: A CRITIQUE 

the morning of the 23d, was one of them, and that he delivered a 
message to John Brown. There has been much debate con- 
cerning this messenger and his identity. 129 B. L. Cochrane may 
have been the important person, or it may have been Jacob Ben- 
jamin that bore the important message, or Charles Lenhart, or 
Mr. John E. Cook. None of these men have heretofore been 
charged with having taken any part in the Pottawatomie epi- 
sode, but there are incidents in this history which connect them 
with it as confederates. Weiner owned the store at "Dutch 
Henry's Crossing," and Benjamin was in his employ. Weiner 
disposed of his stock of merchandise and gave up the business 
to engage in this speculation in horses. He was from Texas 
and to Texas he returned. It is also probable that he was a pro- 
slavery man. Benjamin was subsequently "imprisoned" for 
some act that he committed while in Brown's service ; as appears 
from a reference which the latter made, during July, concerning 
him. 130 The name of Benjamin Cochrane also appears in the 
same reference, as having been with Brown at the Pottawatomie 
and at the Black Jack. 

On page 101, Mr. Redpath states that Charles Lenhart and 
John E. Cook left Lawrence on the 21st to "commence re- 
prisals." There is also evidence that they went southward. 
They were horse thieves, and at Cleveland in May, 1858, Cook 
stated that he had killed five men in Kansas. 131 It is therefore 
probable that these men were accomplices with the Browns in 
this deal; and participated, directly or indirectly, in the mur- 
ders. Cook was a guest in their camp June 4th, two days after 
the fight at Black Jack, when they had Pate's horses and mules 
in their possession. Thereafter he continued to be Brown's 
faithful lieutenant, and followed his fortunes to the gallows at 
Charlestown. Charles Lenhart, too, appeared at Charlestown, 
engaged in an effort to effect Cook's escape from the jail. 

12 9Villard, 175. 
"o Sanborn, 241. 
"iVillard, 338. 



ROBBERY AND MURDER 111 

The terms of the agreement which the Browns made with 
these confederates, and the details for the execution of the Pot- 
tawatomie transaction, would make history of absorbing inter- 
est. How many horses did Brown turn over to them? Did 
they trade one bunch of horses for the other, and let it go at 
that? Or, did his confederates charge him with the value of 
the horses which they turned over to him ; and then, after off- 
setting their services in selling Brown's horses, against his ser- 
vices in stealing them, did they divide the net profits, or the 
difference in value between the two lots of horses? Then as to 
the time when Brown was to make his delivery ; it would be in- 
teresting to know about that. Were the parties to wait until 
the Border Ruffians started something, and raised some friendly 
dust that would distract public attention from their operations? 
Probably so, for Brown was prepared to kill his neighbors and 
take their horses at any time. His letter of April 7th shows 
that he intended to do this whether the slave-power renewed its 
acts of aggression or not. He simply preferred to commit his 
robbery under cover of some pro-slavery provocation. Other- 
wise, after the grass had well started, he intended to execute it 
in cold blood and leave the country. In that event, he probably 
intended to "go to Louisiana," and "head an uprising of the 
slaves there." 132 

For reasons obvious, Mr. Villard could not obtain the exact 
facts as to all these incriminating matters from his friends, Sal- 
mon Brown and Henry Thompson ; but the former is still liv- 
ing, 133 and can yet supply them if he desires to do so. He can, 
if he be so disposed, give out the "exact facts" as to all the prin- 
cipal happenings on the Pottawatomie. For instance : He 
can give the name of the man whose horses they intended to 
steal, but failed to get, and the number of them. Townsley 
referred to this incident, but Salmon Brown gave further 

132 Sanborn, 296, note 2. 

133 Salmon Brown died in California during the fall of 1912. 



112 JOHN BROWN: A CRITIQUE 

details and spoke very interestingly upon the subject. He 

said : 134 

Soon after crossing the creek, some one of the party 
knocked at the door of a cabin. There was no reply, but 
from within came the sound of a gun rammed through the 
chinks of the cabin walls. It saved the owner's life, for at 
that we all scattered. We did not disturb that man. With 
some candle wicking soaked in coal oil to light and throw in- 
side, so that we could see within while he could not see out- 
side, we would have managed it, but we had none. It was a 
method much used later. 

From the expression "it was a method much used later" we de- 
rive a confession that the Browns continued in the horse stealing 
business. 

Upon the number of horses that Brown expected to get as a 
result of the murder of seven men, depends this interesting 
problem in his psychology : his estimate of the value of a hu- 
man life in terms of horses. In the case of the Doyles, he took 
three lives and got, probably, eight or ten horses ; but the whole 
number of horses taken will never be known unless Salmon 
Brown, or some one who has his confidence, should decide to 
reveal it. 

"The Shermans," Bondi says, "had amassed considerable 
property by robbing cattle droves and emigrant trains." 135 
They lived at a "crossing" of the Pottawatomie, and were buy- 
ers and traders in horses, oxen, and cattle passing over the trail. 
"Crossings" are usually camping places for emigrants and 
drovers ; and at such locations lame, footsore, or otherwise un- 
serviceable stock, can be, frequently, bought or traded for at a 
very profitable margin in favor of the trader. Travelers must 
either sell or abandon their lame stuff, and replace it with ser- 
viceable animals, or lie over and wait until such animals get in 
condition to travel. The trader not being compelled to trade, 

i^Villard, 158. 
135 Sanborn, 272. 



ROBBERY AND MURDER 113 

names the price he will pay, or the terms upon which he will 
exchange good stuff for bad. When the stock which he buys 
is recuperated, he sells it for a good profit to other travelers, or 
to immigrants who locate in his neighborhood. In this way 
the Shermans, William and Henry, had accumulated wealth in 
horses and cattle ; and since there was then much travel on the 
trail, they may have had on hand at that time, from twenty-five 
to forty or fifty horses. 136 

The importance of exchanging the Pottawatomie horses im- 
mediately, and getting them out of the country was a high card 
in Brown's play. If he and his gang had been caught with their 
murdered neighbors' horses in their possession the next morn- 
ing, there would not have been any sophistical discussion fifty 
years after about how the "killings on the Pottawatomie" could 
be "justified" ; or about Brown's "sudden impulses" ; or of his 
altruistic convictions that it was necessary to "remove" any- 
body. The men of that outraged neighborhood, regardless of 
party affiliation, would have promptly hanged the outlaws. 
But the robbers were too deep for them. The neighbors lost 
the trail of the robbers and murderers ; also, they lost the trail 
of the Browns. 

The horror of these murders, aggravated by the brutal mutil- 
ation of the bodies of the victims, seems to have shocked that 
community into a condition of semi-insensibility. In a lot of 
resolutions adopted at a public meeting of citizens at Osawat- 
omie, on the 27th, "denouncing the murders" ; the motive 
prompting the crime, the theft of the horses opened by the vic- 
tims, is not referred to. It is probable that the Osawatomie 
people, who drew the resolutions, did not then know that any 
horses had been stolen. At any rate, these resolutions came to 
be regarded as the public or official announcement of what had 
occurred ; and since they contained no reference to any robbery, 
in connection with the murders, the public was thus, uninten- 

136 Kansas farmers usually own from twelve to forty head of horse 
stock. 



114 JOHN BROWN: A CRITIQUE 

tionally, led to believe that the assassinations were acts of par- 
tisan warfare ; a killing of obnoxious pro-slavery men by un- 
known, but over zealous Free-State men. The resolutions are 
as follows : 137 

Whereas, an outrage of the darkest and foulest nature has 
been committed in our midst by some midnight assassins un- 
known, who have taken five of our citizens at the hour of 
midnight, from their homes and families, and murdered and 
mangled them in the most awful manner ; to prevent a repeti- 
tion of these deeds, we deem it necessary to adopt some 
measures for our mutual protection and to aid and assist in 
bringing these desperadoes to justice. Under these circum- 
stances we propose to act up to the following resolutions : 

Resolved, that we will repudiate and discountenance all 
organized bands of men who leave their homes for the 
avowed purpose of exciting others to acts of violence, be- 
lieving it to be the duty of all good disposed citizens to stay 
at home during these exciting times and protect and if pos- 
sible restore the peace and harmony of the neighborhood ; 
furthermore we will discountenance all armed bodies of men 
who may come amongst us from any other part of the Ter- 
ritory or from the States unless said parties come under the 
authority of the United States. 

Resolved, That we pledge ourselves, individually and col- 
lectively, to prevent a recurrence of a similar tragedy and to 
ferret out and hand over to the criminal authorities the per- 
petrators for punishment. 

C. H. Price, President 

R. Golding, Chairman 

R. Gilpatrick 

W. C. McDow [Committee 

S. V. Vandaman 

A. CastelE 

John Blunt 
H. H. Williams, Secretary 
137 Villard, 168. 



ROBBERY AND MURDER 115 

The pillage and burning of Lawrence put the killings upon a 
war basis. They were supposed to have been a war measure, 
instead of a case of horse stealing; and, instead of the Browns 
et al. being hanged for their crimes, as they would have been, 
by common consent, as undesirable citizens, partisan spirit and 
sectional sentiment soon rallied in their behalf and not only 
condoned their horrible crimes, but, in time, approved of the 
murders, and recognized Brown as among the foremost defend- 
ers of the Free-State cause. At a meeting of the Anti-Slavery 
Society in Lawrence December 19, 1859, Governor Robinson 
said: 

It made no difference whether he (Brown) raised his hand 
or otherwise (at Pottawatamie) ; he was present aiding and 
advising to it and did not attempt to stop the bloodshed, and 
is, of course, responsible, though justifiable, according to his 
understanding of affairs. 

Robinson also stated at this meeting that he himself thought 
the murders justifiable at the time. 

The Anti-Slavery Society, after the discussion, voted that 
the murders were not unjustifiable, and that they were per- 
formed from the sad necessity ... to defend the lives 
and liberty of the settlers of that region. 138 

Governor Robinson further said on February 5, 1878 : 

I never had much doubt that Captain Brown was the au- 
thor of the blow at Pottawatomie, for the reason that he was 
the only man who comprehended the situation, and saw the 
absolute necessity of some such blow and had the nerve to 
strike it. 

The character of Charles Robinson is evidence that if he had 
known, at this time, that the murders on the Pottawatomie had 
been committed in the promotion of robbery, instead of result- 
ing from a supposed spasm of patriotic resentment, provoked by 
the sack and burning of Lawrence, he would not have declared 
them justifiable. 

138 Villard, 610, note, 54. 

8 



116 JOHN BROWN: A CRITIQUE 

In the light of these occurrences, the student of history may 
readily solve the enigmas involved in Brown's letter of April 
7th and in Henry Thompson's reference to his relation with 
Brown's plans : until school is out. He finds in them a logi- 
cal reason for the disbanding of the "Liberty Guards" ; for the 
organization of the Pottawatomie Rifles ; and for Brown's de- 
sire that the slave-power should not "cease from its acts of ag- 
gression." These preliminary acts are in harmony with, 
and form a part of his general plan for a "sudden coup" on the 
Pottawatomie. 

The evidence is complete that the theft of the horses was the 
part to be performed by Brown in this comprehensive scheme. 
His crime cannot be excused or justified upon any pretext of 
supposed conditions or of supposed circumstances. A condi- 
tion of profound peace was prevailing throughout the entire 
Territory when he laid his plans for this assault upon his neigh- 
bors. The settlers in the region south of Douglas County were 
living in a state of amity and neighborly interdependence; so 
much so that Jason Brown and the members of the Pottawat- 
omie Rifles, who started to go to Lawrence, and who expected 
to be absent for an indefinite period of time, deemed it safe to 
leave their families and their property in the care of, or at the 
mercy of these same pro-slavery neighbors. Neither can the 
crime be justified upon the ground that the robbery and the at- 
tendant murders were acts of partisan or guerrilla warfare. Such 
warfare is conducted in the open, with the knowledge and ap- 
proval of the side to which the guerrillas belong; there is no 
secrecy concerning their operations. But Brown robbed and 
murdered in the night for his personal gain ; and sought by se- 
cretly exchanging the loot to hide his identity therewith from 
the world, and denied his participation in the crime to shield 
himself from the wrath of his outraged friends and neighbors. 
Neither can Brown's crime be compared to the execution of un- 
desirable persons by vigilance committees, as some have at- 



ROBBERY AND MURDER 117 

tempted to do. The swift vengeance of such committees falls 
upon criminals — persons whose existence in a community is a 
menace to public order and safety ; it is exercised by reputable 
persons whose social and commercial interests are involved ; 
and in a public or semi-public manner, and after notice has been 
served upon the offensive persons. It is simply monstrous to 
conceive of a vigilance committee secretly murdering well-to-do 
citizens — heads of families, engaged in legitimate occupations ; 
and then stealing their property and dividing it up among them- 
selves. Yet such is the logic of that comparison. 

Also, it is gratuitous to assert that the persons who were 
killed were disreputable. Wilkinson was the local postmaster, 
and was, when assassinated, a member of the Territorial Legis- 
lature ; the Sherman brothers were successful horse dealers and 
stock men. Concerning the Doyles, notwithstanding the ef- 
forts which have been made to defame them, they seem to have 
been decent, respectable, well-to-do settlers. Of them Mr. Eli 
Moore of Lawrence, Kansas, says : 

William Doyle and his sons were good and desirable citi- 
zens. In 1854-55 the elder Doyle and his oldest son were 
contractors for building the mission houses at Miami, Mis- 
souri. I never knew more quiet and industrious men. I 
was with them almost daily for a year and never heard either 
of them utter a word of politics. 139 

They were not "poor whites" as has been recently said. 140 
If they had been poor; if they had not owned a lot of good 
horses, they would not have been murdered. The desperado 
always appeared upon the fringe of our advancing settlements ; 
but he was neither a settler nor a home builder. The men who 
were murdered and robbed had taken claims, had built homes, 
and were living peaceably and honorably in them. They did 
not in their lives exhibit the characteristics of the desperado, 
but their assassins measure up to the part. They had no homes ; 

139 Kansas Historical Collections, vol. xii, 345. 
i*°Villard, 156. 



118 JOHN BROWN: A CRITIQUE 

they were not cultivating the fertile soil of eastern Kansas; 
they had abandoned their claims and were living upon their 
wits; they were floaters who intended to leave the neighbor- 
hood. These men wore the brands which distinguish the 
desperado ; they carried "slung-shots" ; 141 they were swearing, 
swaggering bullies li2 — ''rough-necks" — who infested that 
border and preyed upon the home builders. 

In the preface to his great book, Mx. Villard states that "to 
Salmon Brown and Henry Thompson is due his ability to re- 
cord for the first time the exact facts as to the happenings on the 
Pottawatomie." It is evident that he was imposed upon by 
these principals in the "happenings" ; for it is unfair to suppose 
that he would withhold the facts from his publication if he had 
correct information in his possession concerning them. He has 
written voluminously, and in a scholarly manner about this 
episode, and has shown the inconsistency of a part of the brood 
of fallacies which were conjured, and put forth as motives jus- 
tifying Brown's conduct therein ; but he has not added any valu- 
able fact to the narrative that was given out by Mr. Townsley 
concerning it. 

Mr. Townsley withheld the facts relating to the robbery and 
the exchanging of the horses through confederates, for the per- 
sonal reason that he did not desire to incriminate himself as a 
horse thief. Salmon Brown and Henry Thompson had greater 
reasons for withholding from Mr. Villard, and from the public, 
the damning evidence of the brutal selfishness of this crime. 
It was theirs rather to guard, jealously guard their father's 
fame and to defend his memory ; and not to betray it by giving 
up facts that would disclose the secret of his and of their own 
dishonor. Statements made by criminals, concerning their 
criminality, are not usually true. It is well enough to get such 
statements, but it is the safer way not to attach much importance 

m Ante, note 90. 
1 42 Post, page 138. 



ROBBERY AND MURDER 119 

to them. These men were not credible witnesses. John Brown, 
himself, was a very unreliable witness upon any question 
wherein his personal interests were involved ; and was especially 
so in relation to this incident ; and these two men, as witnesses 
in their own behalf, continually denied having any knowledge 
of the facts herein, until Townsley gave out the secret of their 
complicity with the murders. Salmon Brown wrote December 
27, 1859 : 143 

Dear Sir: Your letter to my mother was received to- 
night. You wish me to give you the facts in regard to the 
Pottawatomie execution, or murder, and to know whether 
my father was a participant in the act. I was one of the 
company at the time of the homicide, and never away from 
him one hour at a time after we took up arms in Kansas; 
therefore, I say positively, that he was not a participator in 
the deed, — although I should think none the less of him if 
he had have been there ; for it was the grandest thing that 
was ever done in Kansas. It was all that saved the Terri- 
tory from being overrun with drunken land-pirates from the 
Southern States. That was the first act in the history of 
Kansas which proved to the demon of Slavery that there 
was as much room to give blows as to take them. It was 
done to save life and to strike terror through their wicked 
ranks. Yours respectfully, 

Salmon Brown. 

Criminals who are tried and judged upon testimony fur- 
nished by themselves are usually acquitted. In this important 
case it is unfortunate that the distinguished author accepted 
the statements which these men made to him, as being the whole 
truth, and that he certified them to the public and wrote them 
into history as the exact facts therein. 

Salmon Brown and Henry Thompson could not fructify the 
desert, but they held the secrets of the Pottawatomie, and if they 
had revealed them to Mr. Villard instead of practicing a de- 

143 Sanborn, 261. 



120 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 

ception upon him, he would have written the history of the 
tragedy differently. 

But Mr. Villard was zealous in a quest for evidence that 
would sustain the conception of the character of John Brown 
which he desired to establish for him in history: a "complex 
character," which only those can understand who hold a chart 
upon the mysteries of the soul. He said : 144 

How may the killings on the Pottawatomie, this terrible 
violation of the statute and the moral laws, be justified? This 
is the question that has confronted every student of John 
Brown's life since it was definitely established that Brown 
was, if not actually a principal in the crime, an accessory and 
an instigator. 

It thus appears that it was not historical facts that he sought, 
but evidence that would counteract the force of the historical 
facts already existing. It was a partisan zeal that led him to 
seek the testimony of partisans. 

To obtain a true understanding of John Brown, the man, 
the student of his life must take up the threads of history that 
lead to the character making incident of May 24th. Mr. Vil- 
lard concedes this 145 but he made no effort to gather them up. 
In a chapter of more than thirty pages, under the title, "The 
Captain of the Liberty Guards," he refers only to the organiza- 
tion of the company, and to Brown's two days' service with it at 
Lawrence — December 7th and 8th, 1855. The disorganiza- 
tion and abandonment of this company by Brown in the spring 
of 1856, is of far greater significance in this history than the or- 
ganization of it. In honor, as "Captain of the Liberty Guards 
in the Fifth Regiment Kansas Volunteers," John Brown first 
received the historic title of "Captain," and in dishonor he aban- 
doned his commission three months later. 

Back of every human action there is that which incites the 
action, that which determines the choice or moves the will, 

"« Villard, 170. 
"5 Villard, 176. 



ROBBERY AND MURDER 121 

There was that back of the actions of John Brown, and of his 
sons and confederates, that moved them to do what they did 
on the night of the 24th of May, 1856; this inciting force was 
motive. 

John Brown had a motive for disbanding the Liberty Guards. 
What was it? He had a motive for quitting the Free-State 
army secretly. Why secretly? He had "no desire all things 
considered, that the slave-power should cease from its acts of 
aggression." Why should he not desire peace? He had a 
purpose in view when he organized the Pottawatomie Rifles 
under the command of his son, and a motive for organizing five 
of his sons into a separate company : "a little company by our- 
selves." What were the purposes ? He wrote to his wife that 
he contemplated leaving the neighborhood, but did not tell her 
when he would leave, or why he expected to leave, or where he 
intended to go. What motive prompted him to conceal from 
her the facts in relation to a subject in which she was so in- 
timately concerned ? The matters referred to here are "stones" 
that have lain in the path of this history for more than fifty 
years which have not heretofore been turned over. Salmon 
Brown and Henry Thompson could have answered all these 
questions correctly if they had been asked so to do. Also, they 
could have cleared the atmosphere of the Pottawatomie of the 
mockeries relating thereto, and of its glamour, which have been 
foisted upon the public as history ; and could have given to Mr. 
Villard and to the public the exact facts concerning the rob- 
beries, and brutal tragedies. It was the duty of Brown's his- 
torians to take up these matters and to make clear interpreta- 
tions of them. But, because of his personal pledge of fidelity 
to the subject, it was especially incumbent upon the author of 
Fifty Years After, to make known the facts that these "stones" 
were in the record, and to turn them over; and with an analysis 
characteristic of his distinguished ability, make clear the essen- 
tial truths which they covered ; for without a clear appreciation 



122 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 

of them "a true understanding of Brown, the man, cannot be 
reached." This he has not done; but has elected to conceal 
these motive interpreting incidents from further historical re- 
search. He has excluded from history the facts relating to this 
period of Brown's life. It may be said of this biographer, that 
having determined to issue a certificate of altruism for John 
Brown, he did not wish to take up these threads of history and 
follow them to their logical sequence ; because they lead, un- 
erringly, to the robberies and the murders which the Browns in- 
tended to commit ; and expose, in the character of his hero, the 
extremity of selfishness. 

None of Brown's biographers has found it convenient to ex- 
plain or to comment upon his letters of April 7th and June 16th, 
although the first contains a personal statement that he in- 
tended to do something of a dangerous nature, and the latter a 
similar statement concerning dangerous things which he had 
done. In their treatment of the Pottawatomie incident they 
have written without regard to the restrictions and limitations 
contained in these authenticated papers relating to the subject. 
Mr. Redpath chose to proceed along the lines of the least resist- 
ance. He suppressed both of these letters ; denied that Brown 
had anything to do with the incident ; and upon the "authority 
of two witnesses" stated that "he was on Middle Creek twenty- 
five miles distant, at the time." 

Mr. Sanborn published both letters ; made no comment upon 
the letter of April 7th, and, concerning the letter of June 26th 
said: 146 

This is all that Brown says in his letter about the events 
of that night in May when the Doyles were executed. Doubt- 
less his text the next morning was from the Book of Judges : 
"Then Gideon took ten men of his servants, and did as the 
Lord had said unto him ; and so it was that he did it by night. 
And when the men of the city arose early in the morning, be- 
hold the altar of Baal was cast down. And they said one to 

146 Sanborn, 237. 



ROBBERY AND MURDER 123 

another, Who hath done this thing? And when they in- 
quired and asked, they said, Gideon, the son of Joash, hath 
done this thing." 

By this expedient he placed the responsibility for the mur- 
ders and the robbery upon the broad shoulders of the Almighty, 
and presented the incident to the public as an interesting exhibit 
in theological, metaphysical, and psychological phenomena. 
He called the murders executions and said that the victims 
"were first tried and found guilty ; given time to pray ; and were 
then executed." 

Following the example of James Redpath, Mr. Villard sup- 
pressed the letter of April 7th ; and in view of his disregard for 
the statements which Brown made in the letter of June 26th, he 
might as well have suppressed that letter also. In it Brown re- 
veals the fact that the band that executed the Pottawatomie hor- 
ror was already organized when the alarm bells rang out from 
Lawrence. He says that he and his sons "were a little com- 
pany by ourselves. On our way to Lawrence we learned that it 
had been already destroyed, and we camped with John's com- 
pany over night. Next day our little company left and we 
stopped and searched three men." This language certifies that 
Brown's party moved independently of the Pottawatomie Rifles, 
and that the camping "over night" with "John's company" was 
but an incident of their march ; it certifies also that they were 
highwaymen — robbers. 

When men who have banded together during a time of peace, 
subsequently commit acts of robbery, persons naturally suppose 
that they united for the purpose of committing such acts, 
and that the motives prompting them were selfish. So in this 
case. If Mr. Villard had admitted that Brown organized his 
little company as early as April, 1856, persons would think 
that the men composing the company united to do the things 
which they afterward did do ; and that the motives prompting 
Brown and his sons to hold up and search men, on the 23d, and 



124 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 

to steal these horses, were selfish. Therefore, he decided to re- 
write this bit of history, and change the time of the organiza- 
tion of Brown's company, and make it appear that it was formed 
on May 23d, under the popular excitement and indignation ex- 
isting on that day, that had been aroused by the Lawrence out- 
rage ; and that the criminal acts included the murders only, and 
that they were committed the next day, before the excitement 
had cooled ; thus making it possible for him to assume that the 
motives prompting these murders were unselfish. Contradict- 
ing what Brown said in his letter of June 26th, relating to the 
time when his band was organized, Mr. Villard makes the fol- 
lowing remarkable statement : 147 

About noon, May 23, John Brown selected for his party 

Henry Thompson, Theodore Weiner, and four sons, Owen, 

Frederick, Salmon and Oliver. 

The author herein could not otherwise than have known that 
this statement was a contradiction of the truth, a falsification of 
the record, and a perversion of history. It is a clear contradic- 
tion of a vital point in the authenticated record concerning the 
history of the organization of this historic company. It is a 
direct assault upon an established historical fact. 

Following this statement the author proceeds to repeat the 
fictions, theretofore put forth, concerning the grinding of the 
sabres for the party, and of the publicity given to the prepara- 
tions for leaving the camp, and of the departure of the expedi- 
tion "with the shouts of their comrades ringing in their ears." 
And, in support of this perversion of history he publishes an il- 
logical, and scurrilous statement prepared for the purpose by 
Salmon Brown. 148 

Secrecy was characteristic of all Brown's planning. To 

the Gileadites he had written : "Let no man appear upon the 

ground unequipped or with his weapons exposed to view. Your 

i« Villard, 153. 
148 Villard, 152. 



ROBBERY AND MURDER 125 

plans must be known only to yourself." Brown's expedition 
herein had for its object the accomplishment of an atrocity, 
conspicuous for its cowardice and selfish brutality ; a crime that 
involved the honor, as well as the lives, of every person who was 
connected with it. The grinding of sabres usually signifies an 
intention to cut somebody to death. The men of this party in- 
tended to murder their victims quietly with swords; and had 
planned, long before the date of this supposed occasion, how to 
conceal their connection with the cutting, and therefore did not 
thus advertise their undertaking. There was no "enthusiasm" 
in the camp of the Pottawatomie Rifles two days later, when a 
messenger "came tearing into it, — his horse panting and lath- 
ered with foam, — and without dismounting yelled out : 'Five 
men have been killed on Pottawatomie Creek, butchered and 
most brutally mangled, and old John Brown has done it.' ' 
No "cheering," such as "you never heard," greeted this an- 
nouncement. There was excitement, but not the "wild excite- 
ment" and enthusiasm of victory. There were no cheers for 
John Brown and his "avengers." There was, however, the 
deeper excitement of indignation and resentment against the 
tribe of Browns. Instead of adopting resolutions and present- 
ing them to Captain John Brown, Jr., congratulating him upon 
the prompt and splendid achievements of his father's expedi- 
tion, a drum-head court martial was convened in the camp of 
the Pottawatomie Rifles, which stripped him of his command 
and dismissed him in disgrace from the company ; First Lieuten- 
ant H. H. Williams being elected captain to succeed him. Jason 
Brown said: 

This information caused great excitement and fear among 

the men of our company and a feeling arose against John and 

myself that led the men all to desert us. 150 

If Jason Brown, "whose hatred of blood-letting had deprived 

"•Villard, 151. 

150 Ibid. 



126 JOHN BROWN: A CRITIQUE 

him of his father's confidence," when violent deeds were under 
way, 151 "had devoted" himself to sharpening the cutlasses in 
John's camp May 23d, as stated by Mr. Villard, 152 he would 
have known that "blood-letting" was to ensue; and the news 
that blood had been shed, would not have come to him as a 
shock — " 'the worst shock' that ever came to him in his 
life." 153 Nor would he have "tremblingly" demanded of his 
father on the night of the 25th : "Did you have anything to do 
with the killing of those men on the Pottawatomie?" For he 
would not only have known that there were to be killings, and 
who were to be killed, but he would have been a party to them, 
and to the robbery. He would have known all about what was 
to happen. But to his eternal credit let it be said that his 
father and brothers had not taken him into their confidence in 
this matter. Townsley, in his confession, said nothing about 
the calling for volunteers, and the grinding of sabres, although 
it is probable that his connection with Brown's scheme began 
on May 23d, as he stated. 

There were suspicious circumstances which tended to incrim- 
inate the Brown party ; but the facts that the horses which were 
stolen had been run out of the country, while the Browns re- 
mained in the neighborhood, and did not have the murdered 
men's horses in their possession, were potent in allaying these 
suspicions, and gave them an opportunity to deny their guilt. 
But if the sensational scenes of calling for volunteers for a hos- 
tile purpose, and the sharpening of their sabres had actually 
occurred, they would have had no possible defense. This evi- 
dence would have connected them directly with the crime, and 
it would have been published immediately upon the return of 
the resentful Pottawatomie Rifles to their homes at Osawat- 
omie and on the Pottawatomie. Whereas the resolutions 

151 It has heretofore been supposed that John Brown's career of vio- 
lence began with the tragedies on the Pottawatomie. 

152 Villard, 153. 

153 Villard, 165. 



ROBBERY AND MURDER 127 

adopted at the mass-meeting of citizens at Osawatomie May 
27th, refer to "midnight assassins unknown ;" and on May 31st, 
Mr. James H. Carruth wrote to the Watertown (New York) 
Reformer : 

. . . It was murder nevertheless and the Free-State 
men here co-operate with the pro-slavery men in endeavoring 
to arrest the murderers. 

In his statement of the facts as to the happenings on the Pot- 
tawatomie, Mr. Villard makes one sole reference to the rob- 
beries that happened. It is, that when Owen Brown had been 
denounced by his uncle, the Rev. Mr. Adair of Osawatomie, 
on the 26th, as a "vile murderer," and was refused admission to 
his home, that "he rode away on one of the murdered men's 
horses." Except for this and another incidental reference to 
theft, the reader of Fifty Years After would not be informed 
that any robbery had been committed ; and even this statement 
is artfully written. It is incorrect and misleading. It conceals 
a thread in this history which would, if exposed, unmask the 
selfishness that prompted this crime : Owen Brown rode away 
on one of the "fast Kentucky horses" which John Brown re- 
ceived in exchange for the "murdered men's horses." 

Mr. Villard assumes that Brown's motives for committing 
the murders herein, and stealing these horses, were unselfish ; a 
grace that should logically apply to the swaggering, swearing 
infidels whom he directed. In a summary of his conclusions he 
says : 154 

Fired with indignation at the wrongs he witnessed on ev- 
ery hand, impelled by the Covenanter's spirit that made him 
so strange a figure in the nineteenth century, and believing 
fully that there should be an eye for an eye and a tooth for a 
tooth, he killed his men in the conscientious belief that he was 
a faithful servant of Kansas and of the Lord. He killed not 
to kill, but to free ; not to make wives widows and children 
fatherless, but to attack on its own ground the hideous insti- 

"* Villard, 185-188. 



128 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 

tution of human slavery, against which his whole life was a 
protest. He pictured himself a modern crusader as much 
empowered to remove the unbeliever as any armoured 
searcher after the Grail. It was to his mind a righteous and 
necessary act; if he concealed his part in it and always took 
refuge in half-truth that his own hands were not stained, 
that was as near to a compromise for the sake of policy as 
this rigid, self-denying Roundhead ever came. Naturally a 
tender-hearted man, he directed a particularly shocking 
crime without remorse, because the men killed typified to him 
the slave-drivers who counted their victims by the hundreds. 
It was to him a necessary carrying into Africa of the war in 
which he firmly desired himself engaged. And always it 
must not be forgotten that his motives were wholly unselfish, 
and that his aims were none other than the freeing of a race. 
With his ardent, masterful temperament, he needed no coun- 
sel from a Lane or a Robinson to make him ready to strike a 
blow, or to tell him that the time for it had come. The smoke 
of burning Lawrence was more than sufficient. 

From the point of view of ethics, John Brown's crime on 
the Pottawatomie cannot be successfully palliated or excused. 
It must ever remain a complete indictment of his judgment 
and wisdom ; a dark blot upon his memory ; a proof that, 
however self-controlled, he had neither true respect for the 
laws nor for human life, nor a knowledge that two wrongs 
never make a right. Call him a Cromwellian trooper with 
the Old Testament view of the way of treating one's ene- 
mies, as did James Freeman Clarke, if you please ; it is never- 
theless true that Brown lived in the nineteenth century and 
was properly called upon to conform to its standard of morals 
and right living. 

For John Brown no pleas can be made that will enable him 
to escape coming before the bar of historical judgment. 
There his wealth of self-sacrifice, and the nobility of his aims, 
do not avail to prevent a complete condemnation of his bloody 
crime at Pottawatomie, or a just penalty for his taking hu- 
man life without warrant or authority. If he deserves to 



ROBBERY AND MURDER 129 

live in history, it is not because of his cruel, gruesome, repre- 
hensible acts on the Pottawatomie, but despite them. 
Conceptions of the distinguishing traits in Brown's character 
are widely divergent ; a divergence not attributable to a "blind 
prejudice." Those who knew him best did not have the exalted 
opinions of the nobility of his aims, or of the sublimity of his 
humanity, that inspired his eulogists and biographers. Prom- 
inent among the dissenters was John Brown himself. As late 
as March 31, 1857, he did not personally understand that what 
he had been doing in Kansas was either sentimental, patriotic, 
or romantic. It had not occurred to him that he had been im- 
pelled by the covenanter's spirit, or that he was a crusader, 
either ancient or modern. On that date, replying to a letter 
that he had received from his wife, in which she informed him 
that "his sons were now inclined to give up war and remain at 
North Elba," he said: 155 

I have only to say as regards the resolution of the boys to 
"learn and practice war no more," that it was not at my so- 
licitation that they engaged in it at first ; and that while I may 
perhaps feel no more love of the business than they do, still I 
think there may be in their day what is more to be dreaded 
if such things do not now exist. 

Judged in the light of what has been already shown concern- 
ing Brown's activities, this letter is fatal to any theory that he 
was instigated by other than sordid motives when he engaged in 
his course of crime. So j udged it is an acknowledgment by him- 
self that what he and his sons had been engaged in, in Kansas, 
was "business," simply business. Also, that it was disreputable ; 
and he sought to absolve himself from any responsibility for 
their participation therein, by denying that it was at his solicita- 
tion "that they engaged in it at first." By the declaration that 
what he had been doing was repulsive to him, John Brown dis- 
credits every altruistic theory which has been put forth in exten- 
155 Sanborn, 388. 



130 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 

uation of his crimes, or in justification of his actions. It is evi- 
dence that it was his hands, and not his heart, that were enlisted 
in his operations. A man inspired by the righteousness of a 
cause is not moved to make apology for having invited others to 
engage in it with him. If he had believed that in these murders 
and robberies he had been acting as a faithful servant of Kan- 
sas, and of the Lord, he would have proudly asserted his con- 
viction, and would have defended his conduct upon the high 
grounds of duty, loyalty, and humanity. 

Mr. Geo. B. Gill was one who knew Brown better than any 
of his panegyrists knew him — Mr. Sanborn not excepted. 
Upon him he practiced no hypocritical pretensions. He was 
honored by Brown with a place in his cabinet, as secretary of 
the treasury, under the "Provisional Government of the United 
States," which he organized in Canada in 1858; and was one of 
the generals, in embryo, who was to command the Army of the 
Invasion. In a letter (not heretofore published) 156 written 
from Milan, Kansas, July 7, 1893, to Colonel Robert J. Hinton, 
author of John Brown and His Men, Mr. Gill expressed, confi- 
dentially, his opinion of Brown's personality. He said : 
My dear friend: 

It seems that all great men have their foibles or what we 
in our differences from them call their weaknesses. "A man 
is never a hero to his valet" and I am about to give you an 
expression of truthfulness which I have never given to any 
one yet. ... I admit that I am sadly deficient as a God 
or hero worshipper. . . . And the man who may do his 
fellows the most good may be far from the goody-goody, 
but may be personally absolutely offensive. 

My intimate acquaintance with Brown demonstrated to me 
that he was very human ; the angel wings were so dim and 
shadowy as to be almost unseen. Very superstitious, very 
selfish and very intolerant, with great self esteem. . . . 
He could not brook a rival. At first he was very fond of 

156 Kansas Historical Society, Hinton Papers. 



ROBBERY AND MURDER 131 

Montgomery, but when he found that Montgomery had 
thoughts of his own, and could not be dictated to, why, he 
loved him no longer. Montgomery, Lane and all others 
went down before his imperial self. He was intolerant in 
little things and in little ways, for instance, his drink was 
tea, others wanted coffee. He would wrangle and compel 
them to drink tea or nothing, as he was cook and would not 
make coffee for them. I had it from Owen in a quiet way 
and from other sources in quite a loud way that in his family 
his methods were of the most arbitrary kind. ... I have 
known Stevens to sometimes raise merry hell when the old 
man would get too dictatorial. He was iron and had neither 
sympathy or feeling for the timid or weak of will. Not- 
withstanding claims to the contrary, he was essentially vin- 
dictive in his nature. Just before we left Kansas, during a 
trip that Brown and myself were some days away from the 
rest, the boys arrested a man. (I think by the name of 
Jackson.) Montgomery gave him a trial and he was re- 
leased by general consent as not meriting punishment. When 
we returned Brown was furious because the man had not 
been shot. ... It seems hard and cruel in me to tell you 
of Brown's individuality as I have told you, yet it seemed to 
me that you, perhaps the last writer on the theme, should 
know all, whether it be any use to you or not. . . . 

Yours truly, 

George B. Gill. 
There is nothing in Mr. Gill's pen picture of John Brown that 
suggests to the mind a "misplaced Crusader." or a "self-deny- 
ing Roundhead," a "Cromwellian trooper" or an "armored 
searcher for the Grail ;" but there is that in it which does sug- 
gest a man of low instincts, trifling and contentious about little 
things; of a vindictive and quarrelsome disposition; inordin- 
ately selfish, inhuman and intolerant. It is for the reader to 
determine which of the two estimates of the man is entitled to 
credit. 

In view of the facts presented herein, this much debated 



132 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 

event in Brown's life cannot be considered, abstractedly, as a 
study in altruism ; but as a premeditation in robbery, to which 
the murders were incidental. 

The movement to execute the Pottawatomie robbery began 
when Brown and his sons left their homes on the evening of 
May 21st, ostensibly to engage in the defense of Lawrence. 
They did not belong to the Pottawatomie Rifles. That was, 
says John Brown, the company of which "John was Captain" 
and to which Jason belonged. The six were "a little company 
by themselves." This party did not intend to go to Lawrence. 
They had matters of a personal nature to attend to. After 
camping "with John's company over night" they left his camp 
and retracing their steps, proceeded to a secluded spot, about a 
mile from the scene of their prospective operations ; where they 
remained thirty hours, awaiting, doubtless, the arrival of their 
confederates with the northern horses. The owners of the 
horses that were to be stolen stood in the pathway of the thieves 
and they thrust them aside in death. If Brown and his band 
"killed these men in the conscientious belief that they were 
faithful servants of the Lord and of Kansas," then they stole 
these horses in the same exalted inspiration. The theft of the 
horses cannot be put in harmony with any theory of either pa- 
triotism or humanity. The murders have been defended, quite 
successfully, from a spiritual point of view ; but there is nothing 
spiritual in horse-trading, nor is there anything in horse-steal- 
ing which appeals to the tender susceptibilities of our nature, or 
to the refinements of life. It is impossible, by any contortions 
of the imagination, to conceive of anything aesthetic, altruistic, 
or spiritual being connected with a horse trade wherein all the 
horses involved in the trade have been stolen, and the trade is 
being made between the thieves, even though some of the thieves 
be murderers. The event herein was a plain case of murder 
and robbery, deliberately planned and executed under most re- 
volting circumstances. "Murder is murder" and robbery is 



ROBBERY AND MURDER 133 

robbery, therefore this combining incident cannot be accepted 
as an exhibit in metaphysics. The victims of these men were 
not murdered and their horses taken in behalf of Kansas and of 
the Lord, but for the exclusive benefit of the Browns and their 
associates in the crime ; they were not moved to "murder these 
men and boys" by any "sudden overpowering impulse" excited 
by the spectacle of burning Lawrence; but by a brutal desire 
to get possession of their horses. Brown was impatient of the 
cruel fortune that kept him, as he tersely stated it, "like a toad 
under a harrow," and he determined to break asunder the chains 
that bound him within his environment of poverty, and to seek 
relief from their fetters in a life of crime; a decision due to "an 
outgrowth of his restlessness and the usual desire of the bank- 
rupt for a sudden coup to restore his fortune." 

If the robbery on the Pottawatomie were undertaken and exe- 
cuted in behalf of the Free-State cause, then all the horses which 
the Browns stole during the time they remained in Kansas, were 
stolen from motives of patriotism and humanity. The term 
"attacking slavery" was a joke in the vocabulary of these 
bandits. The theft of a horse was spoken of, wittily, as an 
"attack upon slavery" or as "fighting for freedom." 

On page 122 Mr. Villard stoutly says : "Where John Brown 
was, he led." Did he lead in these midnight murders ? Were 
his methods and conduct throughout this bloody affair those of 
a hero inspired by a devotion to humanity and by the nobility of 
his aims ; or were they characteristic of the assassin and thief, 
who kills and robs under cover of the night and hides his identity 
by flight ? In view of his actions as set forth herein, it is vio- 
lently illogical to suppose that in planning to murder these set- 
tlers and steal their horses, Brown's motives were unselfish ; and 
that he was moved by the higher impulses of altruism. Yet 
such are the assumptions of his biographers. 

A public sentiment in sympathy with "the men in bondage," 
and excited by the fierce storm of sectional animosity prevail- 



134 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 

ing during the later fifties, created, of John Brown, an altru- 
istic hero ; and his biographers have been diligent and successful 
in perpetuating the fiction. When these murders were commit- 
ted, had the public known that they were executed in pro- 
moting the robbery of these settlers; and that Brown and his 
sons were a band of thieves, working jointly with another party 
of thieves; and that they intended to continue their thieving op- 
erations while they remained in the Territory; the metamor- 
phosis of John Brown, the criminal into John Brown, the hero, 
would have been impossible. History would have dealt differ- 
ently with him. 



CHAPTER VI 

BLACK JACK 

There is a tide in the affairs of men which taken at the 
flood leads on to fortune. — Julius Caesar, act iv 

The tide in Free-State sentiment was soon to flow strongly 
in Brown's favor. He had wisely deferred the execution of 
his "sudden coup" on the Pottawatomie, until a time when public 
attention would be distracted from a close observance and in- 
quiry into his actions. In the flames of burning Lawrence he 
saw the fruition of his hopes. The storm of passion awakened 
by the outrages there, swept by the malignant winds of revenge, 
spread and lighted the fires of partisan spirit and partisan hate 
in the hearts of the Free-State men, to the borders of the re- 
motest prairie. They were aroused and united in their common 
cause, as never before, and were prepared not only to condone 
any outrages that might be committed upon pro-slavery men, 
but to approve of them. In this spirit they received the news 
of the "murder on the Pottawatomie" and congratulated the 
murderers. But when Brown won his victory over Captain 
Pate at Black Jack and humiliated that boasting aggravation of 
border ruffianism, they went wild in their enthusiasm for him 
and his name was upon every tongue. The criminal of the age 
became the hero of the hour. Had Brown sought to serve the 
cause of Freedom, and to engage the forces of slavery at "close 
quarters," he would have been carried to leadership upon the 
crest of the wave of Free-State enthusiasm which then swept 
over the Territory. But such was neither his intention nor his 
ambition. It was sordid gain which he sought — that, and that 



136 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 

only. Free booty, and not Free Kansas, was the slogan in the 
Brown camp. 

May 26th Brown received some reinforcements. August 
Bondi and A. O. Carpenter joined the band. Bondi was a 
member of the Pottawatomie Rifles ; also, he was an associate 
with Benjamin. Carpenter, it is said, knew of a safe hiding 
place. The retreat to which he invited the party was in a se- 
cluded ravine, opening into Ottawa Creek bottom, in the vicinity 
of Palmyra, some twenty miles northward. The flight of the 
Browns, during the night of the 26th, from their concealment 
on Middle Creek, to the more secure hiding place on Ottawa 
Creek, is thus described by Mr. Bondi. He says : 157 

There were ten of us — Captain Brown, Owen, Frederick, 
Salmon and Oliver Brown ; Henry Thompson, Theodore 
Weiner, James Townsley, Carpenter and myself. . . . 
The three youngest men, Salman Brown, Oliver and I — 
rode without saddles. By order of Captain Brown, Fred 
Brown rode first, Owen and Carpenter next; ten paces be- 
hind them, Old Brown ; and the rest of us behind him two 
and two. . . . 

It will be observed that the little company of six which was 
on foot on the 24th, was now mounted ; and the fact that Bondi 
rode without a saddle, indicates that his mount was not his own 
property, but that it had been furnished by the Browns. It 
thus appears that they had seven horses in their possession, 
exclusive of the fast running horse in the hands of John 
Brown, Jr. 

Another incident therein related reflects some historical light 
upon the state of Brown's mind at the time. Generally, the 
leader of such a party rides at the head of it. On this occasion 
Brown assigned to himself a position of safety in the line of 
march not consistent with the reputation he earned later as a 
fighter; or with the biographical axiom : "Where John Brown 
was, he led." Danger was imminent on the route of this col- 

157 Sanborn, 293. 



BLACK JACK 137 

umn. But Brown did not lead. His conduct can only be ac- 
counted for upon the hypothesis that a man cannot be a thief 
and a hero at the same time. The subject of personal safety, 
by flight, was uppermost in Brown's mind. His study was 
how to escape from the country with his booty. He was flee- 
ing, under cover of the night, from the wrath of his fellow citi- 
zens, and from the officers of the law whom he suspected might 
be upon his trail. He was in the role of a thief, pure and 
simple, and he acted the part. June 1st, under very much al- 
tered circumstances, his conduct was different. Having been 
encouraged to fight, he had made an honorable alliance with 
Captain Shore, and had started from his hiding place to join 
him in a contemplated attack upon a party of Missourians, then 
in the vicinity, to effect the arrest of the Browns. This march 
is also described by Bondi : 158 

Still in the best of spirits, and with our appetites still bet- 
ter, just whetted by a scant breakfast, we followed Captain 
Brown, — he alone remaining serious, and riding silent at 
our front. 

Continuing his narrative of the all-night ride, Bondi says 
that about 4 o'clock on the morning of May 27th, they reached 
the secluded spot, on Ottawa Creek, which Carpenter had in- 
dicated as a safe place for camping ; in the midst of a primeval 
wood, perhaps half a mile deep to the edge of the creek. 

Whether by premeditation or otherwise, the party lost no 
time from the pursuit of the purposes of their organization. 
During the afternoon of that day they went to the store of Mr. 
J. M. Bernard, at St. Bernard, or Centropolis, and helped them- 
selves to such goods as pleased their fancy; principally blankets 
and clothing, and, returning next day they carried away, prac- 
tically, the remainder of the stock. The value of the goods 
taken amounted to probably $3,000. 159 

158 Sanborn, 298. 

159 Howard Report. Testimony of Thomas S. Hamilton. 



138 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 

June 19, 1856, Mr. John Miller testified concerning the rob- 
bery of Mr. Bernard's store, as follows : 

I was at St. Bernard on Tuesday, May 27th, 1856. I was 
in the store (J. M. Bernard's) with Mr. Davis. Whilst 
there a party of 13 men came to the store on horseback, 
armed with Sharp's rifles, revolvers and bowie knives. They 
inquired for Mr. Bernard. I told them he had gone to West- 
port. One of them said to me, "You are telling a God damn 
lie," and drew up his gun at me. They called for such goods 
as they wanted and made Mr. Davis and me hand them out 
and said if we didn't hurry they would shoot us — they had 
their guns ready. After they had got the goods they wanted 
— principally, blankets and clothing — they packed them 
upon their horses and went away. ... On the next 
evening, a party of 14 men came to the store on horseback. 
Thirteen of the party I recognized as the same that came to 
the store the day before and the other man I knew — William 
S. Ewitt is his name — and who I know is a Free-State man. 
They had a wagon along with them. They came into the 
store each having his gun ready. Some carried goods and 
some put the goods in the wagon. . . . They also took 
away with them Mr. Bernard's two large horses and three 
saddles and two bridles and nearly all the provisions that 
were there — bacon and flour and other provisions. They 
asked Mr. Davis for all the money he had in the store. 
There were but 4 dollars in the drawer which he handed to 
them. When they first came they looked up at the sign and 
said they would like to shoot at the name. 160 
An incident of vast importance to John Brown occurred in 
his secure retreat. What he then needed above all other earthly 
things, was a friend who could and would create a diversion in 
his behalf and present his case in a favorable light to the world. 
Here he met James Redpath, a correspondent for the New 
York Tribune, and other newspapers. Redpath had come to in- 
terview Brown, and to get a story for the press. Just how 
100 Howard Report, 1178. 



BLACK JACK 139 

Redpath happened to know that Brown was due to arrive at that 
time, at that particular point on Ottawa Creek, is not publicly 
known ; but he knew of it, and was there awaiting his arrival. 161 
The location of Brown's hiding place was so well concealed 
that Captain Pate, in pursuit of the Browns northward, passed 
by without discovering it; and Redpath, notwithstanding he had 
explicit directions, lost his way and had difficulty in finding the 
place. His description of the camp is as follows : 

I shall not soon forget the scene that here opened to my 
view. Near the edge of the creek a dozen horses were tied, 
all ready saddled for a ride for life, or a hunt after southern 
invaders. A dozen rifles and sabres were stacked against 
the trees. In an open space, amid the shady and lofty woods, 
there was a great blazing fire with a pot on it; a woman, 
bareheaded, with an honest, sun-burnt face, was picking 
blackberries from the bushes; three or four armed men 
were lying on red and blue blankets on the grass ; and two 
fine looking youths were standing, leaning on their arms, 
on guard near by. One of them was the youngest son of 
Old Brown, and the other was "Charley," the brave Hun- 
garian, who was subsequently murdered at Osawatomie. 
Old Brown himself stood near the fire, with his shirt sleeves 
rolled up, and a large piece of pork in his hand. He was 
cooking a pig. He was poorly clad, and his toes protruded 
from his boots. The old man received me with great cor- 
diality, and the little band gathered about me. But it was 
for a moment only, for the Captain ordered them to renew 
their work. He respectfully but firmly forbade conversa- 
tion on the Pottawatomie affair, and said, that, if I desired 
any information from the company in relation to their con- 
duct or intention, he, as their captain, would answer for 
them whatever it was proper to communicate. 1 " 2 

Redpath remained for an hour in Brown's camp, an hour of 

161 Redpath received the information, probably, from either John E. 
Cook or Charles Lenhart. 

162 Redpath, 112. 



140 JOHN BROWN: A CRITIQUE 

importance to Brown, the most fortunate hour of his life. Red- 
path not only pledged to him his professional support, but as- 
sured him that the Free-State men would defend him, and 
promised to have the formidable "Stubbs" Rifle Company, 
armed with Sharp's rifles, march immediately to his relief. At 
the close of the interview he returned to Lawrence and began 
his vivid exploitation of Brown in the Territorial and Northern 
press. He succeeded in stemming the current of condemna- 
tion of the Pottawatomie murders which came sweeping up 
from Osawatomie, and turned the tide of Free-State opinion to 
Brown's advantage. He was thereafter Brown's foremost rep- 
resentative, and became his first and most lurid biographer. 

While the incidents herein related were occurring in Brown's 
camp, the murderers of the pro-slavery men were being dili- 
gently sought for by voluntary pro-slavery partisans, as well 
as by the Territorial authorities. The flight of the Browns 
caused the finger of suspicion to point to them as the guilty 
persons ; and when Captain Pate at the head of a party of Mis- 
sourians came into the Osawatomie district, and found out what 
had happened there, he proceeded to carry off or burn all the 
available property of the Browns and their allies — Weiner 
and Bondi. He then followed the trail of the Browns and ar- 
rived in the vicinity of their camp on Ottawa Creek, May 31st. 
Brown, in the meantime, encouraged by the arrangements he 
had made with Redpath, and the prospect of substantial assist- 
ance, abandoned the idea of further flight and determined to 
fight, and if possible, capture his pursuers. With Pate's com- 
pany of twenty-five men, there were as many horses, and prob- 
ably a dozen mules, besides arms, provisions, and other plunder ; 
all of which looked good to the plunder band. 

The Free-State men in that neighborhood had organized a 
military company, the "Prairie City Rifles." It was under the 
command of Captain S. T. Shore, and numbered eighteen men. 
Shore agreed to "mobilize" his company, and unite his force 



BLACK JACK 141 

with Brown's party of ten, and to attack Pate, by surprise, in 
his camp. An attack of this character upon undisciplined men, 
was practically certain of success. The command was given 
to Brown, and at daylight on the morning of June 2d, the com- 
bined forces opened fire upon the front and right flank of the 
astonished "invaders." The attack was creditable, especially 
to Brown, who planned it, and who preserved his poise, and dis- 
played all the skill and courage necessary in such an engage- 
ment. He was fighting for his existence, and for spoils, and 
won the battle without loss of life on either side. After an 
hour or two of desultory firing. Pate surrendered uncondi- 
tionally. The total casualties were four men wounded, two in 
Pate's command, and one each in Brown's and Shore's com- 
panies. Brown took possession of all Pate's horses and other 
property, and held his men as prisoners until June 5th, when 
Colonel E. V. Sumner, First United States Cavalry, arrived 
upon the scene and separated the belligerents. He restored to 
Pate his horses, and such other property belonging to him as he 
could find, and ordered all of the "companies" to disband and 
return to their homes. 

In view of the losses sustained by the parties engaged in the 
battle, it seems as though the fighting was conducted along con- 
servative lines. Brown's account of it to his wife reads as 
follows : 

Near Brown's Station K. T. June 1856. 
Dear Wife and Children, Everyone: 

. . . The cowardly mean conduct of Osawatomie and 
vicinity did not save them ; for the ruffians came on them, 
made numerous prisoners, fired their buildings, and robbed 
them. After this a picked party of the Bogus men went to 
Brown's Station, burned John's and Jason's houses, and 
their contents to ashes; in which burning we have all suf- 
fered more or less. Orson and boy have been prisoners, 
but were soon set at liberty. They are well, and have not 
been seriously injured. Owen and I have just come here 



142 JOHN BROWN: A CRITIQUE 

for the first time, to look at the ruins. All looks desolate 
and forsaken — the grass and weeds fast covering up the 
signs that these places were lately the abodes of quiet fam- 
ilies. After burning the houses, this selfsame party of 
picked men, some forty in number, set out as they supposed, 
and as was the fact, on the track of my little company, 
boasting, with awful profanity, that they would have our 
scalps. They however, passed the place where we were 
hid, and robbed a little town some four or five miles beyond 
our camp in the timber. I had omitted to say that some 
murders had been committed at the time Lawrence was 
sacked. 

On learning that this party was in pursuit of us, my little 
company, now increased to ten in all, started after them in 
company of a Captain Shore, with eighteen men, he included 
(June 1). We were all mounted as we traveled. We did 
not meet them on that day, but took five prisoners, four of 
whom were their scouts, and well armed. We were out all 
night, but could find nothing of them until about six o'clock 
next morning, when we prepared to attack them at once, on 
foot, leaving Frederick and one of Captain Shore's men to 
guard the horses. As I was much older than Captain 
Shore, the principal direction of the fight devolved on me. 
We got to within about a mile of their camp before being 
discovered by their scouts, and then moved at a brisk pace, 
Captain Shore and men forming our left, and my company 
the right. When within about sixty rods of the enemy, 
Captain Shore's men halted by mistake in a very exposed 
situation and continued to fire, both his men and the enemy 
being armed with Sharpe's rifles. My company had no long 
shooters. We (my company) did not fire a gun until we 
gained the rear of a bank about fifteen or twenty rods to the 
right of the enemy, where we commenced, and soon com- 
pelled them to hide in a ravine. Captain Shore after getting 
one man wounded and exhausted his ammunition, came with 
part of his men to the right of my position, much discour- 
aged. The balance of his men, including the one wounded, 



BLACK JACK 143 

had left the ground. Five of Captain Shore's men came 
boldly down and joined my company, and all but one man, 
wounded, helped to maintain the fight until it was over. I 
was obliged to give my consent that he should go after more 
help, when all his men left but eight, four of whom I per- 
suaded to remain in a secure position, and there busied one 
of them in shooting the horses and mules of the enemy, 
which served for a show of fight. After the firing had con- 
tinued for some two or three hours, Captain Pate with 
twenty-three men, two badly wounded, laid down their arms 
to nine men, myself included, — four to Captain Shore's men 
and four to my own. One of my men (Henry Thompson) 
was badly wounded, and after continuing his fire for an hour 
longer was obliged to quit the ground. Three others of my 
company (but not of my family) had gone off. Salmon was 
dreadfully wounded by accident, soon after the fight ; but 
both he and Henry are fast recovering. 163 . . 

I ought to have said that Captain Shore and his men stood 
their ground nobly in their unfortunate but mistaken posi- 
tion during the early part of the fight. I ought to say fur- 
ther that a Captain Abbott, being some miles distant with a 
company, came onward promptly to sustain us, but could not 
reach us till the fight was over. After the fight numerous 
Free-State men who could not be got out before were on 
hand, and some of them I am ashamed to add, were very 
busy not only with the plunder of our enemies, but with our 
private effects, leaving us, while guarding our prisoners and 
providing in regard to them, much poorer than before the 
battle. . . . 

Your affectionate husband and father, 

John Brown. 

"Articles of Surrender" signed by Captains Brown, Shore, 
and Pate, and his lieutenant, W. B. Brockett, provided for an 
exchange of prisoners, stipulating that Brown's sons — John 

163 The character of Salmon's wound and the nature of the exploit on 
which he was engaged when he received it, have not been made public. 



144 JOHN BROWN: A CRITIQUE 

and Jason — then prisoners, were to be exhanged for Pate and 
Brockett respectively. It also provided that the side arms of 
each person exchanged were to be returned, also the horses, 
"so far as practicable." 

An important incident at Black Jack was the failure of the 
deputy United States marshal, Wm. J. Preston, to arrest the 
Browns. He had warrants for their arrest for the murders on 
the Pottawatomie, and came with Sumner to accomplish it. 
The Colonel notified Brown that they would be served in his 
presence, but when ordered by Sumner to proceed, the marshal 
said: "I do not recognize any one for whom I have war- 
rants," to which the Colonel replied : "Then what are you here 
for?" 164 A man of Brown's years and experience and courage 
is a dangerous animal when thus situated. That a tragedy was 
impending is more than probable. At any rate, Preston quailed 
under the hostile look which Brown fixed upon him. What 
would have happened if the marshal had attempted to make the 
arrests, none can say, but Preston decided not to mix up in a 
tragedy. 

Another incident in the affair of historical importance was 
the presence of John E. Cook, as a guest in Brown's camp. 
None of Brown's biographers has referred to this incident, but 
the fact appears in Cook's confession heretofore quoted from. 
It will be difficult for anyone to account for Cook's presence 
there, at that psychological moment, upon any hypothesis other 
than that he was there by virtue of an invitation from Brown, or 
other notice or understanding with him. It follows, presump- 
tively, that this was not the first time they had met, and that 
they were mutually interested in the problem which Brown had 
under consideration : how to get away, safely, with the horses 
and mules which he had taken from Pate. The final clause of 
the last sentence in the "Articles of Surrender," foreshadows 
the possibility, or probability, that some of the horses might 

16 *Villard, 210. 



BLACK JACK 145 

be missing later on, and gives credit to the suspicion, or as- 
sumption, that Cook had come to the camp to run the stock off 
north and turn it into money, as had been done with the Pot- 
tawatomie horses. That the horses and mules herein were not 
run off immediately, and disposed of, was doubtless due to the 
negotiations that were pending for the liberation of Brown's 
sons. He probably thought that a theft of the horses would 
be construed as a violation of the terms of the surrender, and 
might prevent the exchange of prisoners that he hoped to ef- 
fect. But whatever his hopes and his plans may have been, 
they were all dissipated and broken up by a fly that unexpectedly 
dropped into the ointment of his calculations : the arrival upon 
the scene of Sumner, with his cavalry. He spoiled everything. 
First he made Brown give back to Pate's men all the property 
he had taken from them, or as much of it as was visible, and 
then peremptorily ordered all the combatants to disband and re- 
turn to their homes. 

Sumner's orders bore lightly upon Captain Shore. It was a 
simple proposition for his men to "disband and return to their 
regular vocations." The presence of Pate and his band in the 
neighborhood was a menace to their peace and security ; they 
had left their work, in response to a call from their captain, to 
unite in an effort to drive out the intruders ; also they had be- 
haved creditably, and were ready to return to their homes and 
to the congratulations which they were sure to receive from their 
Free-State neighbors on account of their victory. But with 
the Browns it was different. They were engaged in a different 
kind of business : the horse and general robbery business. They 
too had won a victory — a far greater victory than Shore's 
men. It was their personal fight which they had won. With 
Shore's assistance they had beaten and captured the posse that 
had come to arrest them for murder and robbery. They had 
fought for their lives — also for Pate's horses and mules. But 
they had no homes to which to go. They belonged to a differ- 



146 JOHN BROWN: A CRITIQUE 

ent class of citizens — the undesirable class. They were outlaws 
against whom their neighbors and relatives had closed their 
doors. Mr. Villard states 165 that on the evening of May 
26th, John Brown, Jr., and Jason Brown were refused admit- 
tance into the house of their uncle, the Rev. Mr. Adair, near 
Osawatomie. He said to them, "Can't keep you here. Our 
lives are threatened. Every moment we expect to have our 
house burned over our heads." However, after assuring Mrs. 
Adair that they "did not have anything to do with the murders 
on the Pottawatomie" they were permitted to come in. But 
later that night, when Owen Brown sought admittance to his 
uncle's home, Mr. Adair refused even to parley with him, say- 
ing: "Get away, get away as quickly as you can! You en- 
danger our lives. You are a vile murderer, a marked man!" 

Bondi states that within an hour after Sumner ordered the 
companies to disband, Camp Brown had ceased to exist. The 
wounded Salmon (Thompson) was taken to Carpenter's cabin, 
nearby, and nursed by Bondi ; the others, with Weiner, camped 
in a thicket about half a mile from the abandoned camp. 165a 
June 10th settlement was made with Weiner, and he left the 
country. It is probable that, at this date, the horses which were 
taken on the Pottawatomie had been sold ; and that final settle- 
ment was then made between the Browns and Weiner, and their 
unknown confederates. Mr. Villard states that "on Thursday 
June 10, at a council held that day, it was agreed to separate. 
Weiner had business in Louisiana. Henry Thompson [Salmon 
Brown] was also taken to Carpenter's cabin, and Bondi accom- 
panied Weiner as far as Leavenworth." 

This was the end of the first John Brown organization. The 
period of its active operations covered eighteen days, May 24th 
to June 10th. During this time they murdered five men; stole 
a lot of horses ; made a big horse trade, exchanging the whole, 
or a part of the stolen horses ; robbed a store ; made an alliance 

i«5 Villard, 167. 165a Villard, 210. 



BLACK JACK 147 

with Captain Shore, and captured Pate's posse at Black Jack : 
a record of strenuous activity, characteristic of the aggressive 
speculator who directed the movements. 

The chapter of robbery and murder on the Pottawatomie, of 
which Brown's success over Pate at Black Jack was an incident, 
closes with the settlement herein stated and the dissolution of 
Brown's band June 10th. It further appears that John Brown 
and his unmarried sons quit the Territory late in July, en route 
to the east. Inquiry then, very properly turns to what Brown 
did during the fifty days intervening between these dates. In 
the case of an altruistic hero, a "leader of the Free-State 
Cause," such as the heralds proclaim Brown to have been, the 
public supposes, naturally, that he did something during these 
days of opportunity that was worthy of the great distinction 
with which he is credited. But to the question : WHAT did 
he do? history gives back no answer. The historical record of 
John Brown, except as to three days, July 2d to 4th, is a total 
blank. Even his "whereabouts" during these fifty days is, to 
the public, unknown. The history of those days of strenuous 
endeavor, shows clearly where Robinson was, and what he was 
doing. He was the Free-State Governor of the "State of 
Kansas," and was in jail, or in confinement, under indictment 
in the Territorial Court for "Constructive Treason." History 
shows where Lane was, and where Walker was, and where 
Sam. Woods, and Deitzler, and G. W. Brown and the others 
were, but not where John Brown was. His latest biographer 
dismisses the question as immaterial, with the following gen- 
eralization : 166 

"Not until the beginning of July," he says, "did John Brown 
terminate this life in the bush and again become active. On 
July 2 he boldly entered Lawrence, and called upon the Tribune 
correspondent, William A. Phillips." Brown's object, in call- 
ing upon Phillips, was not to make a report of the public ser- 

1U0 Villard, 220. 



148 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 

vices which he had rendered during the thirty days preceding ; 
but for the purpose of having him publish a letter which he had 
written in reply to Captain Pate's report of the Black Jack affair 
- - a personal matter between himself and Pate. It may be said 
that if Brown had done anything creditable during "this life in 
the bush" he would not have failed to report the fact to Phillips 
for publication, for he was vain. He did, however, the next best 
thing ; he told Phillips what he intended to do : "That he was 
on his way to Topeka with his followers, to be on hand at what- 
ever crisis might arise at the opening of the legislature." Con- 
tinuing his remarks Mr. Villard says : 

How long John Brown remained at the Willets farm, 
near Topeka, to which he now proceeded, and where he 
spent the next two or three weeks, is not known. He neither 
entered Topeka, on the fateful July 4th, nor immediately 
thereafter. It is probable that he returned promptly to the 
neighborhood of his sick sons, more than ever disgusted 
with the Free-State leaders and their inability to adopt his 
view that the way to fight was "to press to close quarters." 167 
Since Brown is herein creditably reported to have "termin- 
ated this life in the bush and again become active," it is fair to 
inquire into the nature of the public service which he rendered 
during the period of activity thus auspiciously announced. Mr. 
Phillips gave out what Brown said he intended to do. But Mr. 
Villard states that he did not do that ; and that there is no record 
of what he did do, or of where he went. It appears, then, that 
"the termination of the life in the bush" was not a termination of 
it at all ; and that the period of his public activities "terminated" 
at the end of a night ride, on stolen horses, from Lawrence to 
the vicinity of Topeka. It may be worthy of note, that the 
above example of Brown's activity in public affairs is probably 
the shortest period of public activity by a hero, that has ever 
been dignified by historical record. Further : History does not 
"'VilUra. 222. 



BLACK JACK 149 

sustain the statement that Brown "recruited his band" after the 
disbanding of it, June 10th. There is no reason apparent why 
he should have enlarged it. He and his sons could operate 
more profitably than a larger party could, and with less risk of 
detection. 

Brown was not a loafer; and he was not in idleness during 
the fifty days of his obscuration; neither was he fighting, 
"pressing to close quarters," for no fighting was being done 
during this time. Investigation, however, of the record and of 
the various admissions and statements subsequently made by 
his sons, discloses the facts that the activities in which they 
were engaged were merely akin, or similar to a state of war- 
fare; that there was continuous "fighting," of a certain kind, 
where they were, and "trouble"; so much so that the sons, at 
least, had a surfeit of it, and were "tired" of the "business," 
and were anxious to quit it and leave the Territory. 

Salmon Brown stated to Mr. Villard, that they left "because 
Lucius Mills insisted on the invalids being moved, and because 
they were a drag on the fighting men" ; and Henry Thompson 
affirmed that "he, Oliver, Owen and Salmon had had enough 
of Kansas. They did not wish to fight any more. They felt 
they had suffered enough ; that the service which they had been 
called upon to perform at Pottawatomie squared them with 
duty. They were, they thought, entitled to leave further work 
to other hands. They were sick of the fighting and trouble." 108 

These statements show that there were violent actions 
somewhere, about something long after Black Jack; and that 
the invalids impeded the movements of the "fighting" men. 
But where this fighting took place, or what it was about, history 
is silent. Salmon Brown could tell all about the occurrences 
of these fifty days if he were disposed to do so. There is 
ample evidence, however, of the fact that the Browns led a 
stormy life during the days they are reported "unaccounted 

16 8 Villard, 222. 



150 JOHN BROWN: A CRITIQUE 

for." 169 The friendly mantle which the night spread over 
their actions, at the time, has not been lifted, but the actors 
therein have told enough to show that what they did do, was 
done at the peril of their lives ; and was of such a character that 
at least one of the party, Lucius Mills, refused to take any part 
in it. For this, Mills lost caste with Brown "because he had no 
desire to fight, but played nurse and doctor while the others did 
the fighting." 17 ° But since there was no fighting anywhere in 
Kansas, we must conclude that they used the term "fighting" 
as a convenience, or as a witticism, and that it really means steal- 
ing horses ; and that the Browns, while in hiding from the world 
at large, were still carrying on the business they commenced in 
the bloody tragedy on the Pottawatomie. Further evidence that 
they were horse thieves, appears in an incident which occurred 
when they were en route home, as related by Salmon Brown. 
He says : in 

"We other four bought a double buggy and harness from 
the Oberlin people, on credit at Tabor, drove to Iowa City, 
sold the horses, sent back the money to pay for the wagon, 
and all four went home. The horses for the double buggy 
we came by thus : we heard on the way through Nebraska, 
that some pro-slavery men were after us. Oliver, who was 
always a dare-devil, and William Thompson ambushed these 
men, deliberately turning aside for that purpose. The men, 
ordered off their horses, took it for a regular hold-up in 
force, and surrendered their animals. Oliver and William 
immediately jumped on and lit out for Tabor. It was these 
horses that took us across Iowa." The need of converting 
pro-slavery animals into good anti-slavery stock, was thus 
urgent with the Brown sons in peaceful placid Nebraska as it 
had been in bleeding Kansas. 

This incident bears all the characteristics of the daring pro- 

169 Villard, 673. 

170 Villard, 222. 

171 Villard, 616, note 68. 



BLACKJACK 151 

fessional at work. It is not probable that two lone Kansas pro- 
slavery men followed John Brown, who had become the Terror 
of the Territory, up into Free-State Nebraska. It is much 
more probable that the Browns held up two unsuspecting, un- 
armed, citizens of Nebraska, and took their horses. And, hav- 
ing taken them in this manner, it follows, more than logically, 
that they also stole the buggy and harness, to complete the out- 
fit ; for it would be quite impossible that two irresponsible young 
strangers, traveling through a country, could thus buy a "dou- 
ble buggy and harness on credit." 

The Browns profited by their operations in Kansas. They 
did not grow rich during the short period of their outlawry, 
but they became prosperous in comparison with what their cir- 
cumstances were before they became robbers. It will be re- 
membered that Salmon Brown, when he was a homebuilder, 
was very poor. Mr. Villard has been quoted as saying that 
Brown and his sons "arrived in Kansas in all but destitute con- 
dition, with but sixty cents between them, to find the settlement 
in great distress." And Redpath said of Brown, when he met 
him in his camp May 30, 1856, "He was poorly clad, and his 
toes protruded from his boots." In contrast with these com- 
mercial ratings we have a report on Brown, as he appeared in 
Nebraska about August 1, 1856: 171a 

The Captain was riding a splendid horse and was in plain 
white summer clothing. He wore a large straw hat and was 
closely shaven. Everything about him was scrupulously 
clean. He made a great impression on several of the com- 
pany, who, without knowing him, at once declared that he 
must be a distinguished man in disguise. 

As a result of their "fighting," and of their "pressing to close 
quarters," the Browns were quite independent when they left 
the Territory. "School was out." Also, the "toad" had got 
out from under the harrow. They could now go wherever 

171a Sanborn, 336. 



152 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 

they wished, and they concluded to give up "their struggle to 
make Kansas a Free-State" and to return to their home in New 
York. At Nebraska City, when Brown changed his mind 
about going east and decided to return to Kansas, he bought 
horses for himself and Frederick, who was to accompany him, 
and sent the remainder of the party on their way to the 
States. 172 When he arrived at Osawatomie, about August 20th, 
he had, as stated by Bondi, "a spick and span four mule team, 
the wagon loaded with provisions ; besides he was well supplied 
with money." 173 In poverty and on foot, the Browns entered 
the valley of the Pottawatomie May 23, 1856; seventy days 
thereafter, they left the Territory, in independent circumstances. 
During the latter part of July and the first days of August, 
1856, some incidents occurred in Kansas which are interrelated. 
The pro-slavery men living in the vicinity of "New Georgia," 
near Osawatomie, built a "block-house" for the protection of 
pro-slavery settlers from Free-State aggressions. Following 
this, John Brown and his band of Free-State aggressors sud- 
denly left the Territory. August 5th, Captain Cracklin, with 
the Stubbs Rifles, routed the Georgians at New Georgia and 
burned their block-house; also, upon receipt of this intelligence, 
at Nebraska City, Brown changed his mind about going east, 
and returned to Kansas to raid the Osawatomie district. The 
first of these incidents, the building of the block-house, was a 
pro-slavery demonstration in Brown's territory. It was notice 
to him that further stealing from pro-slavery settlers would 
be unsafe in that neighborhood ; it was also a challenge to John 
Brown to fight, if he chose to accept it as such. That the leav- 
ing of the Browns was not a premeditation, but the result of a 
"sudden impulse," appears from a statement made by Mr. Adair 
to Mr. T. H. Hand in a letter dated July 17, 1856: "Bro. J. 
B. and unmarried sons expect to leave the territory immedi- 

I72 Villard, 228. 
1?3 Villard, 235. 



BLACKJACK 153 

ately." 173a Also, from the further fact that at the time they 
left, William Thompson, brother of Henry Thompson, was due 
to arrive in Kansas to join the Brown colony. They met him 
near the Nebraska line and took him back east with them. 173b 

The abrupt leaving of the Browns, under these circumstances, 
is inconsistent with the theory that they were "fighting men ;" 
or that they were anxious to fight. If John Brown had actually 
desired to "engage the slave-power at close quarters" as has 
been insisted upon, boastfully, for more than fifty years, he 
would have joined his force with Captain Shore, or others, and 
would have attacked the Georgians at New Georgia, and driven 
them out, as Captain Cracklin did August 5th, while they — 
Brown and his sons — were running away from the job. 



]7 3 a Villard, 616, note 64. 
173b Sanborn, 336. 



CHAPTER VII 

OSAWATOMIE 

Do men gather grapes of thorn or figs of thistles? 

— Matthew 6:16 

At Nebraska City Brown met some distinguished persons: 
General Lane, Colonel Samuel Walker, and Aaron D. Stevens. 
These men were commanders in the Free-State army ; they re- 
ceived him into their confidence, and related to him their plans 
concerning the pending military operations ; the object of which 
was to destroy the pro-slavery forces that had occupied strategic 
positions near Lawrence and Osawatomie, or drive them from 
the Territory. He knew that the execution of these under- 
takings would result in important events and decided to return 
to Kansas. It was evident there was to be real fighting ; fight- 
ing at close quarters; in fact the fighting had already begun. 
August 5th, Captain Cracklin had opened the campaign, pros- 
perously, by a successful attack upon the pro-slavery post at 
New Georgia, as has been heretofore stated. Mr. Sanborn l73c 
claims that Brown had some share in Cracklin's victory, but of 
course, he could not be simultaneously at both of these places. 
News of this victory was received at Nebraska City in 
a message that came to Walker; whereupon the party, except 
Brown, "proceeded to Lawrence as fast as humanly possible." 
They all left Nebraska City August 9th; thirty hours later, 
Lane arrived at Lawrence, Walker arriving shortly afterward. 
But Brown stopped at Topeka on the 10th, where no fighting 
173c Sanborn, 314. 



OSAWATOMIE 155 

was in contemplation; and his "whereabouts," from that date 
until the 17th, is reported as being "unknown." 174 

August 12th, Captain Bickerton defeated Major Buford's 
company of Georgians, at Franklin; stormed and burned the 
block-house; captured some arms and provisions, and recap- 
tured the six-pounder brass cannon, that Buford had taken pos- 
session of at Lawrence, May 21st. Buford wrote: "Our 
money, books, papers, clothing, surveying instruments, and 
many precious memorials of kindness and friends far away, 
were all consumed by the incendiary villains who hold sway. 
. . . We are now destitute of everything except our mus- 
kets, and an unflinching determination to be avenged. . ." 
Bickerton lost one man killed and six wounded. Buford's loss 
was four men wounded — one mortally. 173 But Brown was 
not present when Bickerton pressed to close quarters at Frank- 
lin ; Lane was there, and Sanborn says that Brown was 
there: 176 "Returning about the 10th of August," he says, 
"with General Lane, he proceeded with him to Lawrence and to 
Franklin where there was some skirmishing." "On the 15th 
the Free-State men assailed Fort Saunders, a strong log 
house on Washington Creek, about twelve miles southwest of 
Lawrence. After the customary fusillade, the pro-slavery men 
retreated without blood shed on either side." 177 Still, no 
Brown. The following appeal, by General Lane, was sent to 
him, from Topeka, on August 12th : 

Mr. Brown: — General Joe Cook (Lane) wants you to 
come to Lawrence this night, for we expect to have a fight 
on Washington Creek. Come to Topeka as soon as possible 
and I will pilot you to the place. Yours in haste, 

H. Stratton. 178 

"*Villard, 673. 
175 Villard, 231. 
176 Sanborn. 308. 
177 Villard. 231. 
178 Villard, 235. 



156 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 

It seems from this that Brown was somewhere near Topeka, 

on the 12th, and not at Franklin. 

On the 16th the attack was made on Fort Titus. Of this 

Mr. Villard says : 

There was real fighting at Fort Titus, which Captain 
Samuel Walker, Captain Joel Grover, and a Captain Samuel 
Shombre attacked, at sunrise August 16, with fifty deter- 
mined men. Captain Shombre was killed, and nine out of 
ten men with him wounded, in a rush on the block-house. In 
a short time eighteen out of the forty remaining attackers 
were wounded, including Captain Walker. After several 
hours of fighting, Free-State reinforcements appeared, in- 
cluding Captain Bickerton, with the six pounder, and its 
slugs of molten type. It was run to within three hundred 
yards of the fort and fired nine or ten times. ... As 
Titus still showed no white flag, a load of hay was again 
resorted to with the same success as at Franklin. As the 
wagon was backed up to the log fort, and before the match 
was applied, the party surrendered. . . . Walker cap- 
tured thirteen horses, four hundred guns, a large number of 
knives and six pistols, a fair stock of provisions and thirty- 
four prisoners, six of whom were badly wounded. One 
dead man was found in the block-house before it was burned. 
Again this question comes up: Where was Brown when 

this fighting was taking place ? Was he in this very creditable 

engagement? Continuing his narrative, Mr. Villard says, on 

page 232 : 

The testimony as to whether John Brown was at Saunders 
and Titus is conflicting. He himself left no statement bear- 
ing upon it, and Luke Parsons, James Blood, O. E. Learn- 
ard and others, are positive that he was not at either place. 
The weight of evidence would seem to be on that side. 

But John Brown did leave a statement bearing directly upon 
the question as to whether, or not, he was present at any of these 
engagements. In the interview which he gave out after his 



OSAWATOMIE 157 

capture at Harper's Ferry, in answer to the question: "Did 
you know Sherrod in Kansas? I understand you killed him?" 
Brown replied : "I killed no man except in fair fight. I fought 
at Black Jack, and at Osawatomie, and if I killed anybody it 
was at one of these places." 179 Brown, therefore, was not 
present at any of these battles. He was at Lawrence, however, 
on August 17th, after the fighting was over. Mr. Villard says 
on page 233 : "That Brown was at Lawrence, when Walker 
arrived with his prisoners, admits of no doubt. Again his 
voice was raised for the extreme penalty ; again he asked a sac- 
rifice of blood." It appears, therefore, that Brown "termin- 
ated" a seven days "life in the bush" on the 17th, and became 
active in public affairs, for twenty-four hours. Referring to a 
concurrent incident Colonel Walker says: 

At a little way out of Lawrence I met a delegation, sent by 
the committee of safety, with an order for the immediate 
delivery of Titus into their hands. Knowing the character 
of the men, I refused to give him up. Our arrival at Law- 
rence created intense excitement. The citizens swarmed 
around us, clamoring for the blood of our prisoner. The 
committee of safety held a meeting and decided that Titus 
should be hanged, John Brown, and other distinguished men 
urging the measure strongly. At four o'clock in the even- 
ing I went before the committee, and said that Titus had 
surrendered to me ; that I had promised him his life, and that 
I would defend it with my own. I then left the room. Bab- 
cock followed me out and asked me if I was fully determin- 
ed. Being assured that I was, he went back, and the com- 
mittee, by a new vote, decided to postpone the hanging in- 
definitely. I was sure of the support of some 300 good men, 
and among them Captain Tucker, Captain Harvey, and Cap- 
tain Stulz. Getting this determined band into line, I ap- 
proached the house where Titus was confined and entered. 
Just as I opened the door I heard pistol shots in Titus's room 

179 Redpath, 285, and Sanborn, 569, but omitted by Mr. Villard from 
his narrative. 



158 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 

and rushed in and found a desperado named "Buckskin" 
firing over the guard's shoulders at the wounded man as he 
lay on his cot. It took but one blow from my heavy dragoon 
pistol to send the villain heels-over-head to the bottom of the 
stairs. Captain Brown and Doctor Avery were outside 
haranguing the mob to hang Titus despite my objections. 
They said I had resisted the committee of safety, and was 
myself, therefore, a public enemy. The crowd was terribly 
excited, but the sight of my 300 solid bayonets held them in 
check. 

This is a part of the record of these heroic days — days of 
strenuous effort and of heroic achievement. The Free-State 
men were engaged in a supreme effort to drive from the Terri- 
tory the armed pro-slavery bands that had been organized in 
the South to intimidate and subdue them. They had fought a 
splendidly aggressive campaign, dislodging their foes from all 
their positions, burning their forts, and capturing their supplies. 
There was, as has been said, real fighting, fighting at close quar- 
ters, and plenty of it. And now, in view of it, what is to be 
said about Brown, the hypothetical Kansas hero, the "Fighting 
Leader of the Free-State Cause?" Lane was in evidence ; and 
Colonel Walker, and Bickerton, and Grover, and the gallant 
Shombre, were in the thick of it ; but what part did Brown per- 
form in these undertakings? What contribution did he make 
to the winning of these victories ? Nothing ! Absolutely noth- 
ing. He came out of the "brush" after the fighting was over, 
and endeavored to incite a mob to hang a prisoner who was 
severely wounded. 

This disreputable action is evidence that Brown was not in 
harmony with the best thought of the occasion ; that he mingled 
with the lawless element — with the "Buckskin" class, that 
"fired over the guard's shoulders, at the wounded man, as he lay 
on his cot." Brown was not interested in these important pub- 
lic matters ; he was not cooperating with the Free-State men ; 
his motives for returning to the Territory did not relate to 



OSAWATOMIE 159 

Territorial affairs. His plans had to do with something else. 
They were of a personal character ; and his presence at Lawrence 
on the 17th, was simply an incident of his trip from Nebraska 
City to Osawatomie, where he arrived, according to Bondi, 
"about the 20th, well supplied with money," and with a "spick 
and span four mule team, the wagon loaded with provi- 
sions," 180 to make a coup in horses and cattle. Brown had 
outfitted this four mule team at or near Topeka, and the pres- 
ence of it at Osawatomie on the 20th, with its stock of provi- 
sions, is the best evidence of what he had been thinking about, 
and of what he was doing, while the Free-State men were fight- 
ing the battles around Lawrence. 

Leaving Nebraska City on the 9th, Brown stopped at To- 
peka on the 10th. Later developments show that he had 
planned a scheme of robbery upon a larger scale than anything 
he had theretofore undertaken. As to the Free-State cam- 
paign, the battles "at close quarters," the victories, the rejoic- 
ings, the planning for future operations, he was indifferent, ex- 
cept as they served his personal purposes. 

Brown's arrival at Osawatomie was his first appearance there 
after the Pottawatomie murders. By the 24th he had "enlist- 
ed" nine men: Wm. Partridge, John Salathiel, S. B. Brown. 
John Godell, L. T. Parsons, N. B. Phelps, Wm. B. Harris, Jason 
Brown, and J. Benjamin. 181 He had also stolen enough horses 
to mount them. Of this Mr. Villard says : 181a 

Naturally, as a good general, John Brown's first concern 
was for the mounts of his men. Bondi avers that some of 
Brown's men received prompt orders to capture all of 
"Dutch Henry" Sherman's horses. He himself obtained, 
when these orders were executed, "a four year old fine bay 
horse for my mount" and "old John Brown rode a fine blood- 
ed bay." 

180 Villard, 235. 

181 Villard, 622. 
181a Villard, 235. 



160 JOHN BROWN: A CRITIQUE 

The example set by the Browns, during May, June, and July, 
brought forth many imitators. Robbery became an indus- 
try. A new Richmond was in the Osawatomie field — a Cap- 
tain Cline, with a company of mounted men, every one of whose 
horses had been stolen. This seems to have been sufficient rec- 
ommendation, for Brown joined forces with Cline, and the two 
commands set out, August 24th, for the south, marching eight 
miles, and camping on Sugar Creek, Linn County. 182 On the 
26th another merger of the special interests was accomplished. 
Captain J. H. Holmes also had a company which was con- 
solidated with Brown's party. Captain Shore was in the vicin- 
ity, with the Prairie City Rifles, but it seems that he was not 
stealing anything. The Brown combination probably repre- 
sented all the plants, or commercial units, then doing "business" 
in that district. In promptly effecting the merger of these 
interests, Brown showed his capacity for affairs, and is entitled 
to receive for the second time the "historic title of Captain," 
— Captain of Industry. The men who belonged to Holmes's 
Company were, "Cyrus Tator, R. Reynolds, Noah Fraze (First 
Lieutenant), William Miller, John P. Glenn, Wm. Quick, M. D. 
Lane, Amos Alderman, August Bondi, Charles Kaiser, Freeman 
Austin, Samuel Hauser, and John W. Fay, 183 and, probably, 
Frederick Brown. Thus organized and equipped, the forces 
put into effect the purposes of their organization without delay. 
Mr. Villard says : 183a 

John Brown then rode off to raid the pro-slavery settle- 
ments, on Sugar Creek. . . They visited the home of 
Captain John E. Brown, taking, as his toll, fifty pro-slavery 
cattle and all the men's clothes the house contained. . . 
Other houses were similarly searched, and their cattle taken, 
on the ground that they had originally been Free-State be- 
fore being purloined by the pro-slavery settlers. 

182 Villard, 235. 

183 Villard, 622. 
issa Villard, 238. 



OSAWATOM.IE 161 

That they moved promptly, worked industriously, and ob- 
tained satisfactory results without hindrance from any quarter, 
appears from the further statement by Mr. Villard : 183b 

On Thursday evening, August 28th, Brown reached Osa- 
watomie, traveling slowly because of the one hundred and 
fifty cattle he drove before him. Both his company and 
Cline's bivouacked in the town that night. The next morn- 
ing, (August 29) early, they divided their plunder and cat- 
tle, and Brown moved his camp to the high ground north 
of Osawatomie, where now stands the State Insane Asylum. 
An ordinary commander would have allowed all his men to 
rest. But not John Brown. He was in the saddle all day, 
riding with James H. Holmes,' and others of his men, along 
Pottawatomie Creek, whence he crossed to Sugar Creek, 
returning to Osawatomie with more captured cattle, by way 
of the Fort Scott trail. 

This last lot of cattle was probably the drove that the Quaker, 
Richard Mendenhall, referred to, as quoted by Sanborn on page 
326: 

I next met John Brown again on the evening before the 
battle of Osawatomie. He with a number of others, was 
driving a herd of cattle, which they had taken from pro- 
slavery men. 

It is not probable that it will ever be known what Brown 
intended to do with these cattle. Those who know what his 
intentions were in the premises, have not revealed them. He 
was going East, later on, to work out a scheme which he then 
had in his mind, to raise money. He also had a fancy for fine 
animals and for the stock business. It is therefore probable that 
he intended to establish a stock ranch at some point in Kansas, 
further west, and put his son Frederick in charge of it ; and that 
the cattle which he was then collecting, and the four mule team 
that he had bought, and the load of provisions, were to be used in 

issb villard, 238. 



162 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 

starting the enterprise. Mr. Villard quotes Holmes's estimate 
of Brown as follows : 184 

To Holmes, John Brown appeared on that afternoon more 
than ever the natural leader. He rode a tall strong chestnut 
horse; his spare form was more impressive when he was 
mounted than when he was afoot. Alert and clear sighted, 
he closely watched the landscape for evidence of the enemy. 
The enemy were the settlers who were being robbed. 
This short narrative of Brown's operations in stealing horses 
and cattle, at Osawatomie, discloses the secret motive that 
prompted his return to Kansas from Nebraska. It gives rea- 
sonable grounds for the assumption, that when his "where- 
abouts were unknown," from August 10th to the 16th, inclu- 
sive, he was working out the details of the new venture ; finan- 
cing it ; purchasing the necessary outfit ; and making plans for 
handling the loot after it would be rounded up. It furnishes 
a reason why he refused to join General Lane and his associ- 
ates, in the attack on Fort Saunders, and on Fort Titus ; he had 
business engagements and appointments elsewhere, that re- 
quired his personal attention. But what is of more historical 
importance, perhaps, than anything else, is, that it reveals the 
general channel in which his mind ran ; the things upon which 
his thoughts and energies were concentrated; the occupation 
he was following. Also, the magnitude of the hazardous per- 
formance undertaken in this instance, and successfully exe- 
cuted, shows clearly, that Brown was not a novice in the busi- 
ness. Only a strong, bold man, of large experience, could enter 
such a district, and within four days collect, equip and mount, 
upon stolen horses, a company of ten men, himself included. 
Then, within two days more effect a consolidation, under his 
leadership, of two other similar companies ; and within three 
more days gather up by force, two hundred and fifty head of 
cattle, besides horses and other plunder, and assemble the whole 
«« Villard, 239. 



OSAWATOMIE 163 

at the general rendezvous in Osawatomie. Only an expert in 
horse stealing, and in the general plunder business, could accom- 
plish so much in so short a time. 

To counteract the effect of the Free-State victories, hereto- 
fore referred to, and to restore pro-slavery supremacy, a 
pro-slavery army numbering more than a thousand men, led by 
Major General David R. Atchison, invaded the Territory. 
This formidable force left Westport August 23d, and on the 
29th arrived at Bull Creek, thirty miles from Lawrence. To 
oppose it, the Free-State army was being mobilized under the 
command of General Lane ; who sent an urgent message to 
Brown, and others at Osawatomie, asking them to report to him 
at Lawrence at once, and take part in the impending battle. 
The message was delivered to Brown by Alexander G. Hawse, 
on the evening of August 29th, as he approached Osawatomie, 
"in a cloud of dust and driving the motley herd" of stolen cat- 
tle "before him." Captain Shore received a similar request, 
and promptly responded to the urgent call. He started for 
Lawrence about three o'clock in the afternoon. Brown did not 
go. He could not be expected to abandon the horses, and the 
cattle, and the plunder which he had on hand ; and the robber 
combine of which he was the head, and which was operating so 
successfully, and which had before it a future so promising. 
He was too busy. Besides, the troubles about Lawrence would 
be "water upon his wheel." He was doing business under 
cover of the distracting conditions then existing. Mr. Villard 
says, "After consultation, it was decided that the call should 
be heeded on the next day." 

At the time Brown received this message, General Atchison 
had already detached two hundred and fifty mounted men, with 
one field piece, to march against Osawatomie and burn the 
place. The command of the expedition was given to Brigadier 
General John W. Reid, who had served in the war with Mexico. 
Reid made a night march from Bull Creek. Arriving at Osa- 



164 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 

watomie, he immediately began his attack. His official report 

of the fight is as follows : 185 

Camp Bull Creek, Aug. 31st 
Gentlemen : — I moved with 250 men on the Abolition 
fort and town of Osawatomie — the head-quarters of Old 
Brown — on night before last ; marched forty miles and at- 
tacked the town without dismounting the men, about sun- 
rise on yesterday. We had a brisk fight for an hour or more 
and had five men wounded — none dangerously — Capt. 
Boice, William Gordon and three others. We killed about 
thirty of them, among the number, certain, a son of Old 
Brown and almost certain Brown himself; destroying all 
their ammunition and provisions, and the boys would burn 
the town to the ground. / could not help it. . . 

Your friend, Reid. 

Hon. William Higgins of Bartlesville, Oklahoma, then four- 
teen years of age, drove one of the three teams that comprised 
Reid's means of transportation. Concerning Reid's losses in 
the battle, he says : "The total was three men wounded. Two 
of these were conveyed back to Missouri in one of the wagons, 
while the other wounded man was able to ride his horse. No 
one was killed." 186 

On the Free-State side the battle seems to have been opened 
by Dr. Updegraff, of Osawatomie, and Holmes. The latter 
was "saddling up," presumably to join Brown in another day's 
ride after cattle, when the presence of the enemy was an- 
nounced, and rode up toward the Adairs until he sighted Reid's 
troopers, upon whom he fired three times from his Sharp's 
rifle. 187 

From Lawrence, September 7th, Brown wrote to his wife as 

follows : 188 



185 Villard, 246. 

186 Letter to the author, date, June 29. 1912. 

187 Villard, 243. 

188 Sanborn, 317. 



OSAWATOMIE 165 

Dear Wife and Children Every one: 

I have one moment to write to you, to say that I am yet 
alive, that Jason and family were well yesterday — John and 
Family, I hear, are well (he being yet a prisoner). On the 
morning of the 30th of August an attack was made by the 
•Ruffians on Osawatomie, numbering some four hundred, 
by whose scouts our dear Frederick was shot dead, without 
warning — he supposed them to be Free-State men, as near 
as we can learn. One other man, a cousin of Mr. Adair was 
murdered by them about the same time that Frederick was 
killed, and one badly wounded at the same time. At this 
time I was about three miles off, where I had some fourteen 
or fifteen men over night that I had just enlisted to serve 
under me as regulars. These I collected as well as I could, 
with some twelve or fifteen more — and in about three quar- 
ters of an hour I attacked them from a wood with thick un- 
dergrowth. With this force we threw them into confusion 
for fifteen or twenty minutes, during which time we killed 
or wounded from seventy to eighty of the enemy — as they 
say — and then we escaped as well as we could, with one 
killed while escaping, two or three wounded and as many 
more were missing. Four or five Free-State men were 
butchered during the day in all. Jason fought bravely by 
my side during the fight, and escaped with me, he being un- 
hurt. I was struck by a partly spent grape canister, or rifle 
shot, which bruised me some, but did not injure me seri- 
ously. "Hitherto the Lord has helped me," notwithstand- 
ing my afflictions, etc., etc. John Brown. 
On the same day he gave out the following statement for pub- 
lication : 189 

THE FIGHT OF OSAWATOMIE 

Early in the morning of the 30th of August the enemy's 
scouts approached to within one mile and a half of the west- 
ern boundary of the town of Osawatomie. At this place my 
son Frederick (who was not attached to my force) had 



189 Sanborn, 318. 



166 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 

lodged with some four other young men from Lawrence, 
and a young man named Garrison, from Middle Creek. 
The scouts, led by a pro-slavery preacher named White, 
shot my son dead in the road while he — as I have since 
ascertained — supposed them to be friendly. At the same 
time they butchered Mr. Garrison, and badly mangled one 
of the young men from Lawrence, who came with my son, 
leaving him for dead. This was not far from sunrise. I 
had stopped during the night about two and one half miles 
from them, and nearly one mile from Osawatomie. I had 
no organized force, but only some twelve or fifteen new re- 
cruits, who were ordered to leave their preparations for 
breakfast and follow me into the town, as soon as this news 
was brought to me. 

As I had no means of learning correctly the force of the 
enemy, I placed twelve of the recruits in a log-house, hoping 
we might be able to defend the town. I then gathered some 
fifteen more men together, whom we armed with guns — 
and we started in the direction of the enemy. After going 
a few rods we could see them approaching the town in line 
of battle, about half a mile off, upon a hill west of the village. 
I then gave up all idea of doing more than to annoy, from 
the timber near the town, into which we were all retreated, 
and which was filled with a thick growth of underbrush — 
but I had no time to recall the twelve men in the log house, 
and so lost their assistance in the fight. At this point above 
named I met with Captain Cline, a very active young man, 
who had with him some twelve or fifteen mounted men, and 
persuaded him to go with us into the timber, on the southern 
shore of the Osage, or Marais des Cygnes, a little to the 
north west from the village. Here the men, numbered not 
more than thirty in all, were directed to scatter and secrete 
themselves as well as they could, and await the approach of 
the enemy. This was done in full view of them (who must 
have seen the whole movement), and had to be done in the 
utmost haste. I believe Captain Cline and some of his men 
were not even dismounted during the fight, but cannot assert 



OSAWATOMIE 167 

positively. When the left wing of the enemy had approached 
to within common rifle shot, we commenced firing, and very 
soon threw the northern branch of the enemy's line into dis- 
order. This continued for some fifteen or twenty minutes, 
which gave us an uncommon opportunity to annoy them. 
Captain Cline and his men soon got out of ammunition, 
and retired across the river. 

After the enemy rallied we kept up our fire, until, by the 
leaving of one and another, we had but six or seven left. 
We then retired across the river. We had one man killed 
— a Mr. Powers, from Captain Cline's company — in the 
fight. One of my men, a Mr. Partridge, was shot in cross- 
ing the river. Two or three of the party who took part in 
the fight are yet missing, and may be lost or taken prison- 
ers. Two were wounded — namely, Dr. Updegraff and Mr. 
Collis. I cannnot speak in too high terms of them, and of 
many others I have not now time to mention. 

One of my best men, together with myself, was struck 
by a partially spent ball from the enemy, in the commence- 
ment of the fight, but we were only bruised. The loss I 
refer to is one of my missing men. The loss of the enemy, 
as we learn by the different statements of our own as well 
as their people, was some thirty one or two killed, and from 
forty to fifty wounded. After burning the town to ashes 
and killing a Mr. Williams, they had taken, whom neither 
party claimed, they took a hasty leave, carrying their dead 
and wounded with them. They did not attempt to cross 
the river, nor to search for us, and have not since returned 
to look over their work. 

I give this in great haste, in the midst of constant inter- 
ruption. My second son was with me in the fight, and es- 
caped unharmed. This I mention for the benefit of his 
friends. Old Preacher White, I hear, boasts of having 
killed my son. Of course he is a lion. 

John Brown. 
Lawrence, Kansas, Sept. 7, 1856. 



168 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 

In a third statement 190 Brown says : "In the battle of Osa- 
watomie, Capt. (or Dr.) Updegraff — and two others whose 
names I have lost, were severely (one of them shockingly) 
wounded before the fight began, August 30, 1856." 

The arrival of Reid's forces at Osawatomie, was a complete 
surprise. Brown knew nothing of their coming until after the 
battle was on. Mr. Villard states 190a that John Brown and 
his party, with the exception of Holmes, who spent the night 
in town, crossed the Marias des Cygnes to their camp on 
the Crane claim (about two miles from the town), taking their 
cattle with them. Captain Cline and about fifteen men re- 
mained in the town. Two of Brown's men, Bondi and Benja- 
min, were on guard (over the cattle) on the morning of the 
30th, until the firing began. Brown was preparing breakfast 
at the cattle camp, where a messenger is said to have arrived 
with the news that Frederick Brown had been killed ; where- 
upon Brown is said to have "seized his arms" and "cried, 'Men 
come on !' and with Luke F. Parsons hurried down the hill to the 
crossing nearest the town." But the men, it seems, finished 
their breakfast before responding to this request and still had 
time to overtake their leader. Mr. Villard says that "After 
finishing their coffee, most of them overtook their leader before 
he reached the town" ; and that Parsons, upon following Brown 
into the timber where the fighting was going on, "met Captain 
Cline and his company of fifteen well-mounted men retiring 
through the town, abandoning their cattle and their other 
plunder. One of his (Cline's) men, Theodore Parker Powers, 
was killed in the few minutes they were at the front." 

From the data at hand it appears that the battle was opened 
by Holmes, who fired upon Reid's advance immediately upon 
the latter's arrival ; that Dr. Updegraff, and other citizens of 
Osawatomie, turned out, and with Captain Cline defended the 

190 Sanborn, 291. 
190a Villard, 239. 



OSAWATOMIE 169 

town for "an hour or more" during which time Powers, of 
Cline's company, was killed and Dr. UpdegrafT and two others 
were severely wounded. These were all the casualties that be- 
fell the Free-State men in the actual fighting; and Brown 
states that they occurred "before the fight began" ; by which 
he meant, before he arrived upon the scene, which was at the 
time Parsons met Cline retiring in disorder from the field. 
None of Brown's men was hit while fighting. One of them, 
Geo. W. Partridge, was killed in the retreat while crossing the 
river. It seems therefore, that Brown arrived late in the en- 
gagement and that he, very wisely, attempted nothing "more 
than to annoy, from the timber near the town, into which we 
were all retreated." 

Comment or criticism, favorable or unfavorable, as to what 
John Brown did or did not do in this fight is equally unim- 
portant. Brown's men were not a military company organized 
for the defense of Osawatomie. They were a gang of "rustlers," 
as cattle thieves are sometimes called. Such organizations are 
not under obligations to fight anybody; and they do not fight, 
except as their personal interests or advantage may seem to re- 
quire at the time. In this case the prospects for defeating 
Reid's command of two hundred and fifty men, getting his 
horses, and saving their own plunder, were so unfavorable, that 
Brown and his men were justified in getting away from the 
trouble as best they could ; and that is what they did, leaving 
the town to be pillaged and burned by Reid's army. That 
"they stood not upon the order of their going" is evident from 
the fact that Brown lost his hat while making good his escape 
from the trouble. Of this incident Sarah Brown says : 

On the day that my brother Frederick was killed near 

Osawatomie, my father lost his hat in fighting. 191 

General Reid's estimate of the battle as quoted by Mr. Vil- 

191 Sanborn, 322. 



170 JOHN BROWN: A CRITIQUE 

lard, 191a is perhaps more nearly the truth: "Merely the 
driving out of a flock of quail." And it may be truthfully 
said that some of the birds flew as far as Lawrence, before 
alighting; "indeed, Bondi, Benjamin and Hawes set off at 
once for Lawrence and so by himself did Holmes." 192 As for 
Brown, he went deep into the friendly brush and hid. To a 
legislative committee, February 18, 1857, he read, from a pre- 
pared address, that about the first of September he was "obliged 
to lie on the ground, without shelter, for a considerable time ; 
and at times almost in a state of starvation, and dependent on 
the charity of a Christian Indian." 

Brown's son Frederick was killed by the Rev. Martin White, 
who was with the patrol that was scouting the head of Reid's 
column as it approached Osawatomie. Frederick had come 
from Lawrence the day before with Hawes. The two stopped 
over night at the Carr cabin, adjoining his uncle Adair's place, 
where they had left their horses. Frederick arose early to feed 
them, and noticing two or three mounted men approaching, 
walked out to see who they were. The parson knew him, and 
recognized him as being one of a party that had raided his 
home, and his stables, on the night of August 13th, whereupon 
he shot him through the heart as he stood in the road. Mr. 
Villard treats this incident facetiously. He says : 193 

Thus on August 13th, the home of the Rev. Martin White 
was raided by Free- State men, among them James H. 
Holmes, and ten pro-slavery horses were weaned from their 
allegiance to a wicked and failing cause. White, a preju- 
diced witness, asserted that the horses were laden with 
plunder, but upon this point the memories of Holmes and 
Bondi, both participants, failed them. 
Continuing he says : 193a 

191a Villard, 246. 

1 92 Villard, 247. 

19 3 Villard, 234. 
193a villard, 242. 



OSAWATOMIE 171 

White pretended to recognize the boots on Brown as a 
pair stolen from his son in the raid upon White; but there 
is no evidence to show that Frederick Brown was at that 
time elsewhere than in Lawrence. 

It may be said with equal irrelevancy, that there is no evi- 
dence to show that Frederick was elsewhere than in the raid. 
The author knows, or ought to know, the exact facts concern- 
ing that feature of this deplorable incident. He could have ob- 
tained the information from Holmes, one of the principals, or 
from others whom he met, who had knowledge of the facts. 
However, it is probable that Frederick was a party to this rob- 
bery. He returned to Kansas with his father from Nebraska 
City. "Frederick felt," according to the testimony of Henry 
Thompson, "that Pottawatomie bound him to Kansas. He 
did not wish to leave. He felt that a great crime had been com- 
mitted and that he should go back to Kansas and live it out." 194 
August 10th, father and son arrived at Topeka and disappeared. 
But since Osawatomie was the field of their prospective opera- 
tions, and robbery the purpose for which they intended to enter 
it, Frederick probably went direct from Topeka to Osawatomie, 
and participated, with Holmes and Bondi, in an outrage for 
which he paid the forfeit of his life. His presence in the rob- 
bery is not the only probability in the case. The stolen stuff 
had to be sold somewhere, and, because of his experience in the 
business, and his knowledge of how to do such things, it is 
quite probable that after raiding the parson's and other homes, 
he went north with the horses that had been stolen, and dis- 
posed of them, and had just returned with the proceeds, August 
29th, for another consignment of horses ; or, possibly, to drive 
the cattle, which his father was to steal during his absence, to 
their destination. 

The death of Frederick was the beginning of the utter col- 
lapse and failure of Brown's "get-rich-quick" expedition. His 

194 Villard, 224. 



172 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 

camp was raided a few hours later, and his property — the cattle 
and other loot of the recent foray, and probably the four mule 
team and provisions — was all taken by the enemy. "The horses 
and cattle, at hand, were gathered up and carried off, including 
Cline's booty from South Middle Creek." 195 

The statement put forth, that after the battle Brown "en- 
camped" several days on the Houser farm, about two and one- 
half miles from Osawatomie, and attempted to fortify it, 196 is 
merely trifling with history. Aside from his personal state- 
ment that he was hiding, and starving, during this time, it fol- 
lows, logically, that if Brown were human, and could have ob- 
tained facilities for so doing, he would not have refrained, until 
September 7th, from writing to his wife at North Elba, the sad 
news concerning the death of their son. And further, if John 
Brown had believed that his relation to this battle was honor- 
able, and that the part which he had performed in it was in any 
sense heroic or creditable, he would not have concealed him- 
self and the facts concerning his heroism from the public for 
eight days. It appears that Brown arrived bare-headed at the 
Adair home on the evening of the 30th, saw the dead body of 
his son, took his cap, and disappeared, leaving the burial of the 
body to be attended to by others. 197 The truth seems to be that 
he was ashamed because of his disgraceful conduct ; and terror 
stricken because of the calamities which he had brought upon 
the people of the ill-fated town ; and that he slunk out of sight and 
hid to avoid arrest, and the public condemnation that was his 
due. But when at Lawrence, Bondi, Benjamin, and Holmes 
gave out their exaggerations concerning the battle, but noth- 
ing about the robberies; and told of their personal prowess 
in the engagement, and of their leader's heroism (?) therein; 
and when Brown discovered that his band of thieves had come 
to be recognized as a military organization ; and that he, the 

195 Villard, 246 
l96 Villard. 235. 
197 Hinton, John Brown and His Men, 696. 



OSAWATOM.IE 173 

Loki of Osawatomie, had become the "Hero of Osawatonm" ; 
then, and not till then, came he out of hiding, and affirmed 
what had been put forth by his men concerning him, and accepted 
the honors which were accordingly thrust upon him. 

With these September days came the climax of the aggressive 
Free-State campaign. Also, came the collapse of the pro- 
slavery effort to fasten slavery upon Kansas by force of arms. 
Lawrence was the headquarters for the Free-State men, and 
their activities gave to the place an atmosphere of war. Lane 
led an expedition against Atchison's army which he encoun- 
tered at Bull Creek. September 7th, the day Brown arrived 
from Osawatomie, an expedition was launched against Leaven- 
worth, under the command of Colonel James A. Harvey, but 
it was ordered back to Lawrence, by General Lane, before it ar- 
rived at its destination. On September 9th, General John W. 
Geary arrived in the Territory. He had been appointed Ter- 
ritorial Governor to succeed Governor Shannon. 

"Almost simultaneously with Harvey's movements, Aaron 
D. Stevens, alias Charles Whipple, raided Osawkie, a pro- 
slavery settlement, taking eighty horses and nearly as many 
arms." 198 Falling back from the front of Atchison's army at 
Bull Creek, Lane personally led an attack upon Hickory Point, 
and finding the pro-slavery men too strong, sent to Lawrence 
for assistance. "Whipple and fifty men responded ; but on 
their arrival Lane wanted Bickerton's cannon, and sent to Law- 
rence for it." Colonel Harvey, who had just got back from 
the Leavenworth campaign, also went to his assistance, arriving 
on the 14th. Lane in the meantime had abandoned the siege, 
but Harvey attacked them at once, and after a spirited fight 
captured the force. His loss was five men wounded. The pro- 
slavery loss was one man killed and four wounded. There was 
no robbery involved in this battle. 199 Later, Captain Wood, 

198 Villard, 254. 
199 Villard, 756. 



174 JOHN BROWN: A CRITIQUE 

United States Army, met and captured one hundred of Har- 
vey's men including their arms, and the cannon. 

The withdrawal of Lane from Lawrence, with a large portion 
of the organized Free-State forces, left the town quite unpre- 
pared to resist the advance against it by General Atchison's 
army, which arrived at Franklin on the 13th. This was the most 
formidable force that had ever invaded the Territory. It com- 
prised, at this time, twenty-seven hundred men, including a 
battery of artillery. The principal subordinate commanders 
were Generals John W. Reid, B. F. Stringfellow, W. A. Has- 
kell, and J. W. Whitfield. On the afternoon of the 14th, 
Atchison made a reconnoissance, his advance guard drawing 
the fire of the Free-State pickets in front of Lawrence. His 
attack upon the town on the morning of the 15th, was pre- 
vented by the armed intervention of the Federal Government. 
During the night of the 14th, detachments of United States 
cavalry and artillery arrived at Lawrence, and took up posi- 
tions to defend the town. The Territorial Governor, Geary, 
appeared upon the scene on the morning of the 15th, and, pro- 
ceeding to Atchison's camp, notified him that he could proceed 
no farther. This forceful intervention was fatal to the pro-slav- 
ery propaganda. Upon receiving the Governor's ultimatum, the 
pro-slavery leaders disbanded their army and gave up the strug- 
gle. Geary's interference was not wholly unexpected. The 
"hand writing" had heretofore been seen "upon the wall." Be- 
fore Atchison's advance upon Lawrence, a South Carolinian, 
connected with the invading army, stated the situation in this 
way : "And why should we remain ? We cannot fight, and of 
course, cannot prevent our enemy from voting. The object of 
our mission will then, of course, be defeated and we had as well 
return." 200 

Brown was well received by the Free-State leaders, on his 
arrival at Lawrence. He was fresh from the "bloody field of 

200 Villard, 260. 



OSAWATOMIE 175 

Osawatomie." He gave his story to the press, and posed as the 
hero of a splendidly fought battle against odds of nearly ten to 
one; and, although defeated, had inflicted heavy losses upon the 
enemy. 

After his arrival, the Sunday morning council reassem- 
bled, and decided on the movement against Leavenworth. 
Most of the men thereupon offered the command to John 
Brown, a responsibility he declined, out of deference to other 
leaders, and it was then entrusted to Colonel James A. Har- 
vey. 201 

Referring to the defense of Lawrence, Mr. Villard says, with 
reference to September 14th : 

But the day before Lieutenant Colonel Johnston's arrival, 
these amateur fortifications were filled with very earnest 
Free-Soil men, ready to defend Lawrence at any cost. In 
the absence of Lane, the command was as much in the hands 
of Major J. B. Abbott and Captain Joseph Cracklin of the 
"Stubbs" as of any one else. Some partisans of John Brown 
have attempted to prove that he was in command, but the evi- 
dence is conclusive that he declined Major Abbott's offer of 
the command of a company, and then, at his request, went 
from one of the "forts" to another, encouraging the men, 
urging them to fire low, and giving them such military in- 
formation as was his, everywhere, according to Major Ab- 
bott, with excellent results. 202 

Of the invaders, Mr. Villard says : 202a 

They had with them no less than twenty-seven hundred 
men, some of them completely uniformed and well equipped. 
Besides infantry and cavalry, there was a six-pounder bat- 
tery; in all a remarkably strong force. Its advance guard 
had come in sight of the men on guard at Lawrence on the 
afternoon of the 14th, and after an hour's shooting at long 

201 Villard, 254. 

202 Villard, 258. 
202a Villard. 257 



176 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 

range, the Missourians had retired upon Franklin. Natur- 
ally the people of Lawrence were in great alarm ; few were 
able to sleep that night, remembering as they did, Atchison's 
last visit to their town. There was, therefore, general re- 
joicing when, on the next morning, Lieut. Col. Johnston's 
troops were found to be encamped on Mount Oread, the hill 
overlooking Lawrence, where they had arrived during the 
night. 

The people of Lawrence might well be in a state of alarm 
during the night of the 14th, believing that with the dawn of 
the 15th, Atchison's guns would open upon the town. But 
Brown was not there on the morning of the 15th to help meet 
the shock of the impending battle. True to the mercenary 
character of his conduct, he declined all offers of command on 
the 14th, and left the town to its fate, going to the home, in the 
country, of Augustus Wattles. 203 

Upon assuming control of affairs as Territorial Governor, 
General Geary released the Free-State leaders who had been ar- 
rested and held as prisoners at Lecompton during the later 
months of Governor Shannon's administration, an act that 
caused great rejoicing at Lawrence. 

On the 13th, Charles Robinson addressed the following letter 
to Brown : 

Lawrence, September 13, 1856. 
Captain John Brown: 

Dear Sir: Governor Geary has been here and talks very 
well. He promises to protect us, etc. There will be no at- 
tempt to arrest anyone for a few days, and I think no attempt 
to arrest you is contemplated by him. He talks of letting the 
past be forgotten, so far as may be, and of commencing anew. 
If convenient, can you not come to town and see us? I will 
then tell you all that the Governor said, and talk of some other 
matters. Very respectfully, C. Robinson 

In response to this letter, Brown called upon the Governor on 
203 Villard, 673. 



OSAWATOMIE 177 

the 14th; told him the story of his "defense" of Osawatomie, 
and obtained from him the following beautiful letter : 20 * 

Lawrence, Sept. 14, 1856. 
Captain John Brown. 

My Dear Sir: I take this opportunity to express to you 
my sincere gratification that the late report, that you were 
killed, at the battle of Osawatomie, is incorrect. Your course, 
so far as I have been informed, has been such as to merit the 
highest praise from every patriot, and I cheerfully accord to 
you my heartfelt thanks for your prompt, efficient, and timely 
action against the invaders of our rights and the murderers 
of our citizens. History will give your name a proud place 
in her pages and posterity will pay homage to* your heroism 
in the cause of God and humanity. 

Trusting that you will conclude to remain in Kansas, and 
serve during the war, the cause you have done so much to 
sustain, and with earnest prayers for your health, and pro- 
tection from the shafts of death that so thickly beset your 
path. I subscribe myself, 

Very respectfully, your obedient servant, 

C. Robinson. 

But Brown was seeking neither honors nor honorable men- 
tion for honorable purposes; he sought only for something of 
commercial value. He wanted "assistance" ; something upon 
which he could work the public for money. Robinson, there- 
fore, addressed to him a second letter, a letter of credit, as fol- 
lows : 

To the Settlers of Kansas — 

If possible please render Captain John Brown all the as- 
sistance he may require in defending Kansas from invaders 
and outlaws, and you will confer a favor upon your co-laborer 
and fellow citizen. C. Robinson. 

Brown obtained these letters by dissimulation. He took ad- 
vantage of the Governor's confidence in his statements and 
deeply imposed upon him. He concealed from him the plans 

204 Sanborn. 330. 



178 JOHN BROWN: A CRITIQUE 

which he had formed for working a colossal graft upon the Free- 
State sentiment in the East ; and the fact that he intended to use 
these letters in pursuance of them. He was equivocal, too, as to 
his plans for leaving the Territory. If he had given Charles 
Robinson even a hint that he had been robbing the settlers in the 
Osawatomie district of their horses, cattle, and clothing; and 
had thus provoked Reid's descent upon the town, and the burn- 
ing of it, as a retaliatory measure, and that he intended to use 
the letters he asked for in grafting operations, they would not 
have been written. 

Brown's latest biographer regards the foregoing letters of 
special interest, because of Governor Robinson's subsequent 
criticism of Brown's actions — assuming that the spirit of these 
letters in inconsistent with his later estimate of the rectitude of 
Brown's conduct. 205 The point is not well taken. The Gov- 
ernor's endorsement is, plainly, dependent upon the information 
which he had received relating to it. He said : Your course, so 
far as I have been informed, has been such as to merit the high- 
est praise from every patriot, and he then proceeds to state what 
the heartfelt thanks are for : "For your prompt, efficient, and 
timely action against the invaders of our right and the murderers 
of our citizens." This plain language cannot be distorted into 
an approval, by the Governor, of Brown's crimes in murdering 
and plundering pro-slavery settlers; who came into the Ter- 
ritory to build homes for their families, as Brown and his 
sons originally came to do ; and whose rights, as settlers, were 
equal to those of their Free-State neighbors. Equality of set- 
tlers' rights, was the basic principle of the Free-State conten- 
tion. Robinson wrote it into the platform of the party and un- 
alterably maintained it, to a victorious finish. The war that 
was being carried on by the Free-State men, was directed 
against the invasion of the Free-State settlers' rights by pro- 
slavery men who were non-residents of the Territory. 

205 Villard, 262. 



OSAWATOMIE 179 

John Brown remained at the Wattles farm until the 22c 1. 
Meanwhile plans were matured for his sons, John and Jason, 
and their families, to quit the Territory. During the first days 
of October they left Kansas for the East. Brown's farewell is 
recorded by Mr. Villard, as follows : 206 

On departing from the Territory, Brown left the remainder 
of his Osawatomie volunteer-regular company under the 
command of James H. Holmes, with instructions to "carry 
the war into Africa." This Holmes did by raiding into Mis- 
souri and appropriating some horses and arms and other 
property, for which he was promptly and properly indicted 
and long pursued by the Kansas and Missouri authorities. 
The foregoing is the record, to date, of John Brown's "activ- 
ities" in Kansas. The peace and tranquility of the Osawat- 
omie district to which he came in October, 1855, had not there- 
tofore been disturbed by any distracting contentions. The set- 
tlers were pursuing the even tenor of their way. They were 
comfortable, prosperous, and contented; living in the security 
vouchsafed, by the usages of our civilization and the laws of our 
country, to all of its citizens. They so continued to live, during 
a period of eight months thereafter, wholly unsuspicious of the 
designs their neighbor, Brown, was maturing against their 
peace, their property, and their lives. 

From 1854 to 1860, the great political contest in the country 
was over the question of the extension of slavery into the public 
domain. It was the paramount issue in National politics. New 
alignments were then formed throughout the country in rela- 
tion to it, as men were differently moved by their sympathies 
or interests. In Kansas, the division in public sentiment was 
more pronounced than elsewhere, for reasons that have been 
stated. Naturally, the settlers in the Osawatomie neighbor- 
hood were divided upon this political question ; but certainly not 
with very much greater intensity of feeling than this same 
206 Villard, 261. 

12 



180 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 

neighborhood was divided afterward, upon the great moral 
question of prohibition, or upon the equally great economic 
question of free-coinage of silver. The differences of opinion 
there did not promote or arouse personal animosities, or bitter- 
ness of feeling, among the settlers. Ample authority for this 
conclusion of fact is found in the letters written, at the time, by 
John Brown and others of his family, and in the statement which 
he voluntarily made in 1857, before a committee of the Massa- 
chusetts legislature, heretofore quoted. A large majority of 
the settlers in that district belonged to the Free-State party 
which made the security and peace of the Free-State settlers 
complete, beyond debate. These conditions of peace and tran- 
quility continued undisturbed, until the night of May 24, 1856, 
when John Brown opened his "school" of plunder, and cast 
the baleful shadow of his presence upon the settlement. The 
Pottawatomie horror inaugurated a season of assassination and 
robbery unprecedented in Kansas history: a period of public 
disorder and crime, that ended only when the Territory was 
finally rid of John Brown and his marauders. 



CHAPTER VIII 

HYPOCRISY 

He was a man 
Who stole the livery of the court of Heaven 
To serve the Devil in. 

— Pollock, Course of Tinie 

John Brown "struck the trail" of "easy money" June 28, 1855, 
when Gerrit Smith presented his case to the Syracuse conven- 
tion and collected sixty dollars to assist him in migrating to 
Kansas. He had followed it up with profit, while en route 
thereto, at Springfield, Hudson, Akron, and Cleveland. Now 
he was returning to the East to work the field again. It was 
the same graft which he had theretofore worked, but upon 
greatly improved plans and along broader lines. 

He had two schemes in view. Robinson's letter of Septem- 
ber 14th addressed "To the Settlers of Kansas," showed that 
Brown was their accredited defender "from invaders and out- 
laws." Under the pretext of enlisting, arming, equipping, and 
maintaining in Kansas, a company of fifty mounted men to pro- 
tect the settlers from "invaders and outlaws," he intended to 
try to secure $30,000, in cash, to finance the pretense. The 
other scheme was to have the Legislatures of Massachusetts 
and New York appropriate large sums of money — $100,000 
each — to reimburse persons who had emigrated to Kansas 
from these States, for losses which they were supposed to have 
"suffered in advancing the Free-State cause." Naturally, 
Brown and all the members of his family were "sufferers," and 
would be eligible as beneficiaries of this legislation. 

"The National Kansas Committee" was a company formed 



182 JOHN BROWN: A CRITIQUE 

to promote emigration to Kansas Territory. It was also a sort 
of clearing-house for the various committees which had been 
organized in the Northern States for a similar purpose. It had 
offices in New York, Chicago, and other places. Mr. E. B. 
Whitman was the resident agent of the company in Kansas, a 
fact which the Browns had not overlooked. 

That Brown had this scheme for raising money in view as 
early as July, 1856, appears from the fact that before leaving 
Kansas with his sons, in that month, he called upon Mr. Whit- 
man, at Lawrence, and filed with him a paper which was in- 
tended to serve as the foundation of a claim for reimbursement 
for such losses. It reads as follows : 20T 

FOR MR. WHITMAN 

Names of sufferers and persons who have made sacrifices 
in endeavoring to maintain and advance the Free-State cause 
in Kansas, within my personal knowledge. 

1. Two German refugees (thoroughly Free-State), 
robbed at Pottawatomie, named Benjamin and Bondy (or 
Bundy). One has served under me as a volunteer; namely, 
Bondy. Benjamin was prisoner for some time; suffered by 
men under Coffee and Pate. 

2. Henry Thompson. Devoted several months to the 
Free-State cause, traveling nearly two thousand miles at his 
own expense for the purpose, leaving family and business for 
about one year. Served under me as a volunteer ; was dan- 
gerously wounded at Palmyra, or Black Jack; had a bullet 
lodged beside his backbone ; has had a severe turn of fever, 
and is still very feeble. Suffered a little in the burning of 
the houses of John Brown, Jr., and Jason Brown. 

3. John Jr. and Jason Brown. Both burned out; both 
prisoners for some time, one a prisoner still ; both losing the 
use of valuable, partially improved claims. Both served re- 
peatedly as volunteers for defense of Lawrence and other 
places, suffering great hardships and some cruelty. 



207 Sanborn, 241. 



HYPOCRISY 183 

4. Owen and Frederick Brown. Both served at differ- 
ent periods as volunteers, under me. Were both in the bat- 
tle of Palmyra ; both suffered by the burning of their broth- 
ers' houses; both have had sickness (Owen a severe one), 
and are yet feeble. Both lost the use of partially improved 
claims and their spring and summer work. 

5. Salmon Brown (minor). Twice served under me as 
a volunteer; was dangerously wounded (if not permanently 
crippled) by accident near Palmyra; had a severe sickness 
and is still feeble. 

6. Oliver Brown (minor). Served under me as a vol- 
unteer for some months ; was in the battle of Palmyra, and 
had some sickness. 

7. (B. L.) Cochrane (at Pottawatomie). Twice served 
under me as a volunteer ; was in the battle of Palmyra. 

8. Dr. Lucius Mills devoted some months to the Free- 
State cause, collecting and giving information, prescribing 
for and nursing the sick and wounded at his own cost. Is a 
worthy Free-State man. 

9. John Brown has devoted the service of himself and 
two minor sons to the Free-State cause for more than a year ; 
suffered by the fire before named and by robbery ; has gone 
at his own cost for that period, except that he and his com- 
pany together have received forty dollars in cash, two sacks 
of flour, thirty five pounds of bacon, thirty five do. of sugar, 
and twenty pounds of rice. 

I propose to serve hereafter in the Free-State cause (pro- 
vided my needful expenses can be met) should they be de- 
sired ; and to raise a small regular force to serve on the same 
condition. My own means are so far exhausted that I can 
no longer continue in the service at present without the 
means of defraying my expenses are furnished me. 

I can give the names of some five or six more volunteers 
of special merit I would be glad to have particularly noticed 
in some way. J. Brown 

When one considers the life Brown had been leading and the 
nature of the atrocities which he had committed, this proposal 



184 JOHN BROWN: A CRITIQUE 

to ask for compensation therefor is a piece of effrontery : a good 
exhibit of sublime gall. Also, his ultimatum therein is de- 
serving of consideration. In it he demands, as a condition 
precedent to the rendering of any further service in the Free- 
State cause, that he have an assurance that he and his sons 
would be paid for such services. This demand further dis- 
closes the fact that the energies which Brown was putting forth 
were not a devotion to the cause of the men in bondage, but 
that he sought to work a personal and family graft upon Free- 
State sentiment of the country. 

During February, 1857, Brown had a bill prepared and in- 
troduced in the Massachusetts Legislature to appropriate 
$100,000, as a contingent fund, to relieve the distress of set- 
tlers in Kansas. And on the 18th of that month he and Mr. 
Whitman appeared before the committee, having charge of the 
bill, to urge its passage. 

Brown arrived at .Tabor, Iowa, en route to the East, October 
10th. On the 23d he was at Chicago, where he was well re- 
ceived by the National Kansas Committee. At this time it was 
moving a lot of supplies — two hundred Sharp's rifles, a brass 
cannon, ammunition, clothing, etc. — across Iowa to Kansas, 
under the direction of Dr. J. P. Root. The committee asked 
Brown to return and accompany the train to its destination. 
He, however, advised the management to stop the train, and not 
attempt to enter Kansas with it ; saying that "The immediate 
introduction of the supplies is not of much consequence com- 
pared to the danger of losing them." His remark had refer- 
ence to the efficient measures which Governor Geary had 
adopted to put an end to the lawlessness which was prevailing 
in the Territory at the time he assumed his official duties. 
Brown went with Root as far as Tabor, Iowa, where the sup- 
plies were stored, to await further developments. 

Leaving Tabor, he passed through Chicago about the first of 
December. In Ohio, upon presenting his letters from Gov- 



HYPOCRISY 185 

ernor Robinson to Governor Chase, he received from him an 
additional letter of commendation, for use in Ohio, and twenty- 
five dollars in cash. Thus encouraged, he pushed on, stopping 
at various places on the way, soliciting money, and arriving in 
Boston about January 1, 1857. There the congratulatory let- 
ters which he had in his possession were of inestimable value to 
him. It was through them that he succeeded in establishing 
relations with men of ample means and of high character, who, 
by their generous contributions of money, and by their moral 
support, enabled him to work out his schemes to their logical 
conclusions. 

In Boston, Brown met Mr. Frank B. Sanborn, a young man 
but a year and a half out of Harvard, who was then secretary 
of the Massachusetts State Kansas Committee. "He was on 
fire for the anti-slavery cause, and ready to worship any of its 
militant leaders." 208 Brown, being a militant leader, made a 
deep impression upon this susceptible young enthusiast, who re- 
ported his find to Mr. Thomas Wentworth Higginson, "the 
fighting young Unitarian Parson of Worcester." in a letter, as 
follows : 209 

"Old Brown" of Kansas is now in Boston, with one of his 
sons, working for an object in which you will heartily sym- 
pathize — raising and arming a company of men for the 
future protection of Kansas. He wishes to raise $30,000 to 
arm a company, such as he thinks he can raise this present 
winter, but will, as I understand him, take what money he can 
raise and use it as far as it will go. Can you not come to 
Boston tomorrow or next day and see Capt. Brown ? If not, 
please indicate when you will be in Worcester, so he can see 
you. I like the man from what I have seen — and his deeds 
ought to bear witness for him. 

It will be observed that this was to be a cash transaction : he 
will "take what money he can raise and use it as far as it will 

208 Villard, 271. 
209 ii,id. 



186 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 

go." Most persons will scan this proposal with grave suspi- 
cion, it bears so prominently the brand of the faker; but it will 
create no surprise in the minds of those who are familiar with 
Brown's criminal conduct while in commercial life, and with 
his career of murder and robbery and association with thieves 
in Kansas. 

In his enthusiasm for his Kansas hero, Mr. Sanborn led 
Brown, as the Psalmist had been led, "into green pastures and 
beside the still waters." Through him he met Dr. Samuel G. 
Howe, Patrick Tracy Jackson, George L. Stearns, Dr. Samuel 
Cabot, Judge Thomas Russell, Wendell Phillips, William Lloyd 
Garrison, Henry D. Thoreau, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and other 
notable persons, all of whom were intensely interested in the 
paramount political question of the day, and especially in the 
contest going on in Kansas to make it a Free State. His East- 
ern campaign opened auspiciously. As the popular leader of a 
popular cause, he struck the popular fancy. He presented him- 
self to the public, "modestly," as being the leader of the "fight- 
ing" forces of the Territory; and as having come from the 
"front" to organize a more effective force, in order that he 
might render still more efficient services. January 7th, armed 
with his congratulatory letter from Governor Robinson, he 
called upon Mr. Amos A. Lawrence, who wrote of him, admir- 
ingly, as follows : 

Captain Brown, the old partisan hero of Kansas warfare, 
came to see me. I had a long talk with him. He is a calm, 
temperate, and pious man. but when roused he is a dreadful 
foe. He appears about sixty years old. His severe sim- 
plicity of habits, his determined energy, his heroic courage 
in time of trial, all based on a deep religious faith, make him 
a true representative of the Puritanic warrior. I knew him 
before he went to Kansas, and have known more of him 
since, and should esteem the loss of his service, from poverty, 
or any other cause, almost irreparable. 

Mr. Stearns, too, was deeply impressed with his "sagacity. 



HYPOCRISY 187 

courage, and strong integrity." He had him dine with him at 
his home on Sunday, January 11th. Brown sought, on this 
occasion, to advance his personal fortunes by discrediting 
Charles Robinson and other Free-State leaders. Measured by 
his standard they were a collection of incompetents. He ex- 
alted Martin F. Conway as the best of them, but characterized 
him as "lacking in force." Naturally, if the best of them lacked 
force, there was an emergency to get Brown back to the Terri- 
tory as speedily as possible. It became clear to Mr. Stearns's 
mind that it was the general incompetency and inefficiency of 
the men in control of affairs in Kansas, their cowardice and 
consequent inability to "protect" the settlers, that impelled 
Brown to come East and raise money to equip a force to pro- 
tect them. He therefore determined "to do everything in his 
power to get him the arms and money he desired." 

Mr. William Lloyd Garrison, also, was very much taken with 
him. "They discussed peace and non-resistance together. 
Brown quoting the Old Testament against Garrison's citations 
of the New, and Parker, from time to time, injecting a bit of 
Lexington into the controversy, which attracted a small group 
of interested listeners." 210 

The first result of his newly formed relations was a contribu- 
tion to him of two hundred Sharp's rifles, four thousand ball 
cartridges, and thirty thousand percussion caps, made by the 
"Massachusetts State Kansas Committee." These were the 
arms which Brown had stored at Tabor. The committee also 
voted him a credit of $500 for expenses. The Massachusetts 
Kansas Committee originally purchased the arms, and had 
turned them over to the National Kansas Committee, under 
whose control they then were. 

Before the latter committee, at its offices in the Astor House, 
New York, Brown appeared, January 24th, and presented his 
case. He asked for the arms, and for the moderate sum of 

- 10 Villard, 272. 



188 JOHN BROWN: A CRITIQUE 

$5,000, cash. But this committee had taken pains to inform 
itself, through its general agent, Mr. Amy, with reference to 
conditions existing in Kansas. The directors, therefore, were 
not nearly so susceptible as were the more impulsive people of 
the Massachusetts Committee. They wanted to know some- 
thing about the nature of the project which they were being 
asked to finance, and hoped that Brown would make a more 
specific and definite declaration. They wanted to know what 
the cost of the equipment, for the defenders he talked about, 
would amount to, and called for a list of the articles which he 
needed, with an estimate of the cost of each ; and wanted to know 
what he intended to do with the company after it was organized. 
And then they asked another very relevant question : what he 
intended to do with the five thousand dollars he wanted them 
to give him. Brown's scheme was a personal matter, and to 
have answered these questions, and others that would have, 
logically, followed, would have caused him some embarrass- 
ment. He therefore denied their right to inquire into the pri- 
vacy of his affairs. He wanted five thousand dollars flat ; with 
no questions asked; and rising to the height of the occasion, 
put on a bold front, and refused to be interrogated. He said : 211 
I am no adventurer. You all know me. You know what 
I have done in Kansas. I do not expose my plans. No one 
knows them but myself, except perhaps one. I will not be 
interrogated ; if you wish to give me anything, I want you to 
give it freely. I have no other purpose but to serve the cause 
of liberty. 

The debate being thus closed, the National Committee then 
settled the question of the arms by transferring them back to 
the Massachusetts Committee; and with admirable tact, voted 
the five thousand dollars conditionally — for ''necessary de- 
fensive purposes in aid of Captain John Brown in any defensive 
measures that may become necessary." The irony of the res- 
olution was concealed by an order authorizing him to draw 
211 Mason Report, 245. Testimony of H. B. Hurd. 



HYPOCRISY 



189 



upon the committee for five hundred dollars at any time. But 
he received no part of it, until he showed, by his actions, that he 
intended to return to Kansas. 

The committee penetrated the veneer that disguised Brown's 
hypocrisy, and refused to put any money whatever into his 
hands. After the adjournment, he made up a list of the articles 
that he thought he would need, which he handed to Mr. Horace 
White, assistant secretary. It reads as follows : 

Memorandum of aricles wanted as an Outfit for Fifty Vol- 
unteers to serve under my direction during the Kansas war : 
or for such specified time as they may each enlist for: to- 
gether with estimated cost of same delivered in Lawrence or 
Topeka. 212 

2 substantial (but not heavy) baggage waggons 

with good covers . 
4 good serviceable waggon Horses 
2 sets strong plain Harness . 
100 good heavy Blankets say at 2. or 2. 
8 Substantial large sized Tents . 
8 Large Camp Kettles . 
50 Tin basins .... 
4 Plain strong Saddles & Bridles . 
4 picket ropes and pins 
8 Wooden Pails .... 
8 axes and Helves 
8 Frying pans (large Size) . 
8 Large sized Coffee Pots . 
8 do do Spiders or Bake Ovens 
8 do do Tin Pans 
12 Spades & Shovels 

6 Mattocks 

2 Weeks provisions for Men & Horses 

Fund for Horse hire & feed, loss & damage of 
same ..... 



50 



200.00 

400.00 

50.00 

200.00 

100.00 

12.00 

5.00 

80.00 

3.00 

4.00 

12.00 

8.00 

10.00 

10.00 

6.00 

18.00 

6.00 

150.00 



500.00 
$1,774.00 



212 Original in files of Kansas Historical Society. 



190 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 

There was a very handsome margin for profits between 
$30,000, his original estimate of what he would require to "arm 
and equip a company such as he thought he could raise this 
present winter" and his final estimate — $1,774. But that is 
not material ; Brown was simply working the field for all the 
money he could get; as Mr. Sanborn truly said "he will take 
all he can raise and use it as far as it will go." 

The National Committee voted $1,774 to fill this requisition, 
but it declined to give Brown the money wherewith to make the 
purchases. He had a right to expect that the committee would 
give him this money, and trust him to expend it honestly ; but it 
ordered otherwise. February 18th Mr. White wrote that the 
articles Brown had requisitioned would be shipped the follow- 
ing week; and on March 21st he notified him that he would 
"shortly go to Kansas and work there to fit him out with all the 
supplies he was entitled to under the New York resolution." 213 
Brown was keenly disappointed and deeply humiliated by the 
actions of the National Committee; and in a letter to Mr. 
William Barnes, of Albany, April 3d, gave expression to his re- 
sentment. He said : 

I am prepared to expect nothing but bad faith from the 
Kansas National Committee at Chicago, as I will show you 
hereafter. This, for the present, is confidential. 214 
It was money and not supplies that Brown was eager for at 
this period in his operations. His plans did not contemplate 
any defense of Kansas. The "arming and equipping" of the 
fifty men was a deception. It was but his stock in trade — a 
pretext upon which he solicited funds. He, and the kind of 
men he would have enlisted, if he enlisted any, had all the arms 
they would need, and stealing requires but little ammunition. 
In his largest successful venture — the Pottawatomie — but 
one shot was fired, and that one, as stated by Salmon Brown, 
was "wholly unnecessary." 

213 Villard, 276. 
214 Ibid. 



HYPOCRISY 191 

February 18, 1857, was an important day in Brown's calen- 
dar. Mr. Sanborn had prepared his bill to appropriate $100,- 
000 to relieve the distress of Kansas settlers. It had been in- 
troduced in the Massachusetts Legislature, and referred to the 
Joint Committee on Federal Relations, before which it was to 
be taken up, on that day, for consideration. Mr. Sanborn 
stood sponsor for the measure ; and Brown and Mr. Whitman 
appeared before the committee, as advocates, in support of it. 
Introducing these two distinguished persons Mr. Sanborn said 
in part : 215 

As one of the petitioners for State aid to the settlers of 
Kansas, I appear before you to state briefly the purpose of 
the petition. No labored argument seems necessary ; for 
if the events of the last two years in Kansas, and the prospect 
there for the future, are not of themselves enough to excite 
Massachusetts to action, certainly no words could do so. We 
have not provided ourselves with advocates, therefore, but 
with witnesses ; and we expect that the statements of Captain 
Brown and Mr. Whitman will show conclusively that the 
rights and interests of Massachusetts have suffered gross out- 
rage in Kansas — an outrage which is likely to be repeated 
unless measures are taken by you to prevent so shameful an 
abuse. Your petitioners desire that a contingent appropria- 
tion be made by the legislature, to be placed in the hands of 
a commission of responsible and conservative men, and used 
only in case of necessity to relieve the distress of the settlers 
of Kansas — especially such as have gone from our own 
state. . . We have invited Captain Brown and Mr. Whit- 
man to appear in our behalf, because these gentlemen are 
eminently qualified either to represent Massachusetts in Kan- 
sas, or Kansas in Massachusetts. The best blood of the 
"Mayflower" runs in the veins of both, and each had an an- 
cestor in the army of the Revolution. Mr. Whitman, sev- 
enth in descent from Miles Standish, laid the foundation of 
the first church and the first schoolhouse in Kansas; John 
215 Sanborn, 370. 



192 JOHN BROWN: A CRITIQUE 

Brown, the sixth descendant of Peter Browne, of the "May- 
flower," has been in Kansas what Standish was to the Ply- 
mouth Colony. These witnesses have seen the things of 
which they testify, and have felt the oppression we ask you 
to check. Ask this gray haired man, gentleman — if you 
have the heart to do it — where lies the body of his murdered 
son — where are the homes of his four other sons, who a year 
ago were quiet farmers in Kansas. I am ashamed, in pres- 
ence of this modest veteran, to express the admiration which 
his heroism excites in me. Yet he, so venerable for his years, 
his integrity, and his courage — a man whom all Massachu- 
setts rises up to honor — is today an outlaw in Kansas. To 
these witnesses, whose unsworn testimony deserves and will 
receive from you all, the authority which an oath confers, I 
will now yield place. 

Mr. Redpath states that Brown then came forward and read 
his speech, "in a clear ringing tone," as follows : 216 

"I saw, while in Missouri, in the fall of 1855, large numbers 
of men going to Kansas to vote, and also returning after they 
had so done ; as they said. 

"Later in the year, I, with four of my sons, was called out 
and traveled, mostly on foot and during the night, to help de- 
fend Lawrence, a distance of thirty-five miles ; where we were 
detained, with some five hundred others, or thereabouts, from 
five to ten days — say an average of ten days — at a cost of 
not less than a dollar and a half per day, as wages, to say 
nothing of the actual loss and suffering occasioned to many 
of them, leaving their families sick, their crops not secured, 
their houses unprepared for winter, and many without houses 
at all. This was the case with myself and sons who could 
not get houses built after returning. Wages alone would 
amount to seven thousand five hundred dollars ; loss and suf- 
fering cannot be estimated. 

"I saw, at that time, the body of the murdered Barber, and 
was present to witness his wife and other friends brought in 
to see him with his clothes on, just as he was when killed. 

-™ Redpath, 177-184. 



HYPOCRISY 193 

"I, with six sons and a son-in-law, was called out, and trav- 
elled, most of the way on foot, to try and save Lawrence, 
May 20 and 21, and much of the way in the night. From 
that date, neither I nor my sons, nor my son-in-law, could 
do any work about our homes, but lost our whole time until 
we left, in October ; except one of my sons, who had a few 
weeks to devote to the care of his own and his brother's fam- 
ily, who were then without a home. 

"From about the 20th of May, hundreds of men, like our- 
selves, lost their whole time, and entirely failed of securing 
any kind of a crop whatever. I believe it safe to say, that 
five hundred free state men lost each one hundred and twenty 
days, which, at one dollar and a half per day, would be — to 
say nothing of attendant losses — ninety thousand dollars. 

"On or about the 30th of May, two of my sons, with sev- 
eral others, were imprisoned without other crime than op- 
position to bogus legislation, and most barbarously treated 
for a time, one being held about one month, and the other 
about four months. Both had their families on the ground. 
After this, both of them had their houses burned, and all 
their goods consumed by the Missourians. In this burning 
all the eight suffered. One had his oxen stolen, in addition." 

The Captain, laying aside his paper, here said that he had 
now at his hotel, and would exhibit to the Committee, if they 
so desired, the chains which one of his sons had worn, when 
he was driven beneath the burning sun, by federal troops, 
to a distant prison, on a charge of treason. The cruelties he 
there endured, added to the anxieties and sufferings incident 
to his position, had rendered him, the old man said, as his 
eye flashed and his voice grew sterner, "A maniac — yes, a 
MANIAC." 

He paused a few seconds, wiped a tear from his eye, and 
continued his narration. . . . 

"I saw while it was standing, and afterwards saw the ruins, 
of a most valuable house, the property of a highly civilized, 
intelligent, and exemplary Christian Indian, which was 
burned to the ground by the ruffians, because its owner was 



194 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 

suspected of favoring the free state men. He is known as 
Ottawa Jones, or John T. Jones. 

"In September last, I visited a beautiful little free state 
town called Staunton, on the north side of the Osage, (or 
Marais-des-Cygnes, as it is sometimes called,) from which 
every inhabitant had fled for fear of their lives, even after 
having built a strong log house, or wooden fort, at a heavy 
expense, for their protection. Many of them had left their 
effects liable to be destroyed or carried off, not being able to 
remove them. This was to me a most gloomy scene, and like 
a visit to a sepulchre. 

"About the first of September, I, and five sick and 
wounded sons, and a son-in-law, were obliged to lie on the 
ground, without shelter, for a considerable time, and at 
times almost in a state of starvation, and dependent on the 
charity of the Christian Indian I have named before, and his 
wife." 

He concluded his remarks by denouncing the traitors to 
freedom, who, when a question of this kind was raised, cried 
out, "Save the people's money — the dear people's Money." 
He had a detailed estimate of how much the National Gov- 
ernment had expended in endeavoring to fasten slavery on 
Kansas ; and asked why these politicians had never cried out, 
"Save the people's money !" when it was expended to trample 
under the foot of the "peculiar" crime of the south, the 
rights, lives, and property of the Northern squatters. They 
were silent then. (Applause.) 

The Chairman then asked who commanded the free-state 
men at Lawrence. His answer was characteristic of the 
man, whose courage was only equalled by his modesty and 
worth. 

He explained how bravely our boys acted — gave every 
one the credit but himself. When again asked who com- 
manded them, he said, — no one ; that he was asked to take 
the command, but refused, and only acted as their AD- 
VISER! 



HYPOCRISY 195 

The Captain spoke in conclusion, about the emigrants 
needed for Kansas. 

"We want," he said, "good men, industrious men, men 
who respect themselves ; who act only from the dictates of 
conscience; MEN WHO FEAR GOD TOO MUCH TO 
FEAR ANY THING HUMAN." 

When asked by the Chairman : — ''What is your opinion 
as to the probability of a renewal of hostilities in Kansas — 
of another invasion ; and what do you think would be the 
effect, on the free state men, of an appropriation by Massa- 
chusetts?" — replied: — "Whenever we heard, out in Kan- 
sas that the North was doing any thing for us, we were en- 
couraged and strengthened to struggle on. As to the prob- 
ability of another invasion, I do not know. We ought to be 
prepared for the worst. Things do not look one iota more 
encouraging now, than they did last year at this time. You 
ought to remember that, from the date of the Shannon 
treaty till May last, there was perfect quiet in Kansas; no 
fear of a renewal of hostilities; no violence offered to our 
citizens in Missouri. I frequently went there myself; was 
known there; yet treated with the greatest kindness." 
The Massachusetts Kansas Committee, of which Mr. San- 
born was secretary, was composed of the kind of men described 
in the resolution, "responsible and conservative men." It 
seems, therefore, that the scheme was to have the State appro- 
priate this money, and place it with the Massachusetts Com- 
mittee, for disbursement among Kansas settlers who had suf- 
fered, as the Browns and "four or five others" had suffered. 
Of his biographers James Redpath, alone, seems to have been 
favorably impressed with the speech; and it is unfortunate 
for Brown's fame that he gave it publicity; for, had the re- 
port of the speech been suppressed and the manuscript de- 
stroyed, his biographers could have made much of the occasion ; 
much more than was made of his mythical effort at Lawrence, 
December 8, 1855. The speech was, in truth, a maudlin plea 
for compensation for the time which he and his sons had 



196 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 

spent in secretly murdering and plundering Kansas settlers. 
It also included a weak attempt to criticise the Free-State lead- 
ership ; a line of criticism then becoming popular, and still ex- 
isting within the zone infected by the pernicious influence of 
the Disunionists of that period. 

Brown did not dare to even hint at the truth concerning what 
he had seen, and what he had personally done in Kansas. Yet 
he did not hesitate to seek to impose this measure for compensa- 
tion upon the Legislature, and to misinform it in relation to his 
conduct, and to misdirect its official actions. Imagine if possi- 
ble the dismay, horror, and disgust that would have taken pos- 
session of the members of this committee, if a correct view of 
Brown's life, in Kansas, had been portrayed to them. The ar- 
rangement of the function was audacious and clever ; an illus- 
tration of his daring hypocrisy, reckless insolence, and con- 
sistent variance with right doing. The legislative committee 
penetrated Brown's armor, as the Kansas National Committee 
had done, and refused to recommend that his bill be passed. 

Three months later, Mr. Stearns was led to make an effort 
to have the New York Legislature take up a similar measure. 
Writing on May 18th, to a New York committee, he made the 
following remarkable statements : 217 

Since the close of the last year we have confined our opera- 
tions to aiding those persons in Kansas who were, or in- 
tended to become, citizens of that Territory, — believing 
that sufficient inducements to immigrate existed in the pros- 
perous state of affairs there ; and we now believe that should 
quiet and prosperity continue there for another year, the 
large influx of Northern and Eastern men will secure the 
State for Freedom. To insure the present prosperity we 
propose — 

1. To have our legislature make a grant of one hundred 
thousand dollars, to be placed in the hands of discreet per- 
sons, who shall use it for relief of those in Kansas who are, 
217 Sanborn, 386. 



HYPOCRISY 197 

or may become, destitute through Border-Ruffian outrage. 
We think it will be done. 

2. To organize a secret force, well armed, and under con- 
trol of the famous John Brown, to repel Border-Ruffian out- 
rage and defend the Free-State men from all alleged imposi- 
tions. This organization is strictly to be a defensive one. 

3. To aid by timely donations of money those parties of 
settlers in the Territory who from misfortune are unable to 
provide for their present wants. 

I am personally acquainted with Captain Brown, and have 
great confidence in his courage, prudence, and good judg- 
ment. He has control of the whole affair, including contri- 
butions of arms, clothing, etc., to the amount of thirteen 
thousand dollars. His presence in the Territory will, we 
think, give the Free-State men confidence in their cause, and 
also check the disposition of the Border Ruffians to impose 
on them. This I believe to be the most important work to 
be done in Kansas at the present time. Many of the Free- 
State leaders being engaged in speculations are willing to ac- 
cept peace on any terms. Brown and his friends hold to the 
original principle of making Kansas free, without regard to 
private interests. If you agree with me, I should like to have 
your money appropriated for the use of Captain John Brown. 
If not that, the other proposition, to aid parties of settlers now 
in the Territory will be the next best. 

It appears from the closing sentences of this letter, that 
Brown had succeeded in discrediting the men, who were stead- 
fastly working out the Free-State problem, in order to ingrati- 
ate himself with the people whom he then sought to delude. 
His turpitude should not provoke surprise. The crime of in- 
gratitude cannot further degrade the character of this menda- 
cious mendicant. Having assassinated his unoffending neigh- 
bors in the West, and robbed them, he now assassinated the 
fame of honorable men, and robbed them of the measure of 
confidence and esteem to which they were justly entitled be- 
cause of their public services. 

Disappointed in his scheme to have money legislated into his 



198 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 

pocket, and in his effort to raise the thirty thousand dollars in 
large sums, he proceeded to canvass the East personally, for 
money, and to draw upon every possible source of supply — sail- 
ing under false colors and doing business under false pretenses. 
Referring to this, Mr. Villard says : 218 

It must not be forgotten in this connection that very little 
was known in Boston at this time, about the Pottawatomie 
murders, and still less about Brown's connection with them. 
Frank Preston Stearns, the biographer of his father, states 
that the latter never knew of John Brown's connection with 
the crime, and it may be well that Theodore Parker and 
others passed off the scene without a full realization of the 
connection between the Harper's Ferry leader and the trage- 
dy of May 24, 1856. 

Brown was proficient in the art of dissimulation. Mr. Tho- 
reau was thus impressed with what, to him, seemed to be the 
sanctity of a Christian character. He said : 219 

He was never able to find more than a score or so of re- 
cruits whom he would accept, and only about a dozen (among 
them his own sons) in whom he had perfect faith. When 
he was here, he showed me a little manuscript book, — his 
"orderly book" I think he called it, — containing the names 
of his company in Kansas, and the rules by which they 
bound themselves and he stated that several of them had al- 
ready sealed the contract with their blood. When some one 
remarked that with the addition of a chaplain, it would have 
been a perfect Cromwellian troop, he observed that he would 
have been glad to add a chaplain to the list, if he could have 
found one man who could fill the place worthily. I believe 
he had prayers in his camp morning and evening, neverthe- 
less. He is a man of Spartan habits, and at sixty was scru- 
pulous about his diet at your table, excusing himself by say- 
ing that he must eat sparingly and fare hard, as became a 
soldier, or one who was fitting himself for difficult enter- 

218 Villard, 274. 

219 Sanborn, 503. 



HYPOCRISY 199 

prises, a life of exposure. A man of rare common-sense 
and directness of speech as of action, a transcendentalism 
above all a man of ideas and principles, — that is what dis- 
tinguishes him. Not yielding to a whim or transient im- 
pulse, but carrying out the purpose of a life. I noticed that 
he did not overstate anything, but spoke within bounds. I 
remember particularly how, in his speech here, he referred 
to what his family had suffered in Kansas, without ever giv- 
ing the least vent to his pent up fire. It was a volcano with 
an ordinary chimney flue. Also referring to the deeds of 
certain Border Ruffians, he said, rapidly paring away his 
speech, like an experienced soldier keeping a reserve of force 
and meaning: "They had a perfect right to be hung." He 
was not in the least a rhetorician, was not talking to bun- 
combe or his constituents anywhere. He had no need to in- 
vent anything, but to tell the simple truth, and communicate 
his own resolution ; therefore he appeared incomparably 
strong, and eloquence in Congress and elsewhere seemed to 
me at a discount. It was like the speeches of Cromwell 
compared with those of an ordinary king. 

Mr. Emerson recorded his impressions in the following beau- 
tiful language : 

For himself, Brown is so transparent that all men see him 
through. He is a man to make friends wherever on earth 
courage and integrity are esteemed, — the rarest of heroes, 
a pure idealist with no by-ends of his own. Many of us 
have seen him, and everyone who has heard him speak has 
been impressed alike by his simple, artless goodness and 
sublime courage. He joins that perfect Puritan faith which 
brought his ancestors to Plymouth Rock, with his grand- 
father's ardor in the Revolution. He believes in two articles, 
— two instruments shall I say ? — The Golden Rule and the 
Declaration of Independence ; and he used this expression in 
a conversation here concerning them : "Better a whole gen- 
eration of men, women and children should pass away by a 
violent death, than that one word of either should be violated 
in this country." There is a Unionist, there is a strict con- 



200 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 

structionist for you! He believes in the Union of the 

States, and he conceives that the only obstruction to the 

Union is slavery ; and for that reason, as a patriot, he works 

for its abolition. 220 

These exalted characters, incapable of detecting the vile im- 
position which he was practicing upon them, gave Brown the 
full measure of their confidence; even accepting at its face 
value the assassin's statement that he would have been glad to 
add a chaplain to his band, if he could have found one who could 
fill that office worthily. Governor Robinson had been more 
conservative in his recommendation. He based his approval 
of Brown upon the information he had received. "Your ca- 
reer," he said, "so far as I have been informed, has been such as 
to merit the highest praise." 

As may be supposed. Brown's most dependable contributor 
was the Massachusetts Committee. January 7th it voted him 
$500 for expenses and on April 1 1th it voted him $500 more for 
the same account. April 15th it authorized him to "sell to 
Free-State settlers in Kansas, one hundred of the rifles it had 
placed in his care, for not less than fifteen dollars each, and to 
apply the proceeds to relieve the suffering inhabitants of the 
Territory." 221 Meanwhile he pursued his personal campaign 
for money without abatement of energy; visiting the principal 
towns and cities in Massachusetts, New York, and Connecti- 
cut. 222 

On March 4th he published, in the New York Tribune, the 
following general advertisement for remittances of money : 223 

TO THE FRIENDS OF FREEDOM 

The undersigned, whose individual means were exceed- 
ingly limited when he first engaged in the struggle for liberty 
in Kansas, being now still more destitute, and no less anxious 



220 Sanborn. 501. 

221 Mason Report, 229. 
222 Villard, 614. 

223 Sanborn, 379. 



HYPOCRISY 201 

than in time past to continue his efforts to sustain that cause, 
is induced to make this earnest appeal to the friends of free- 
dom throughout the United States, in the firm belief that his 
call will not go unheeded. I ask all honest lovers of liberty 
and human rights, both male and female, to hold up my 
hands by contributions of pecuniary aid, either as counties, 
cities, towns, villages, societies, churches, or individuals. 
I will endeavor to make a judicious and faithful application 
of all such means as I may be supplied with. Contributions 
may be sent in drafts to W. H. D. Callender, cashier State 
Bank, Hartford, Conn. It is my intention to visit as many 
places as I can during my stay in the states, provided I am 
first informed of the disposition of the inhabitants to aid me 
in my efforts as well as to receive my visit. Information 
may be communicated to me (care of the Massasoit House) 
Springfield, Mass. Will editors of newspapers friendly to 
the cause kindly second the measure, and also give this some 
half dozen insertions? Will either gentlemen or ladies, or 
both, who love the cause, volunteer to take up the business ? 
It is with no little sacrifice of personal feeling that I appear 
in this manner before the public. 

At Hartford and Canton, Connecticut, he used a similar ap- 
peal : 

I am trying to raise from twenty to twenty-five thousand 
dollars in the free States, to enable me to continue my efforts 
in the cause of freedom. Will the people of Connecticut, 
my native state, afford me some aid in this undertaking? 
Will the gentlemen and ladies of Hartford, where I make my 
first appeal in this State, set the example of an earnest effort ? 
Will some gentleman or lady take hold and try what can be 
done by small contributions from counties, cities, towns, 
societies, or churches, or in some other way? I think the 
little beggar-children in the streets are sufficiently interested 
to warrant their contributing, if there was any need of it, to 
secure the object. 224 
221 Sanborn, 379. 



202 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 

February 19th Mr. Lawrence sent Brown a check for seventy 
dollars which had been contributed to the Massachusetts Com- 
pany by John Conant, of New Hampshire. About this time 
Mr. Lawrence published an offer to be "one of ten, or a smaller 
number, to pay a thousand dollars per annum till the admission 
of Kansas into the Union, for the purpose of supporting John 
Brown's family and keeping the proposed company in the field." 
Since he did not intend to have any company in Kansas, Brown 
took up this proposal promptly and pressed tenaciously to com- 
mute it for a thousand dollars, cash. On March 19th, he wrote 
Mr. Lawrence from New Haven, as follows : 225 

The offer you so kindly made through the Telegraph 
some time since, emboldens me to propose the following for 
your consideration : For One Thousand Dollars cash I am 
offered an improved piece of land which with a little improve- 
ment I now have, might enable my family, consisting of a 
Wife & Five minor children (the youngest not yet Three 
years old) to procure a Subsistence should I never return to 
them ; my Wife being a good economist, & a real old fash- 
ioned business woman. She has gone through the Two past 
winters in our open cold house ; unfinished outside ; & not 
plastered. I have no other income or means for their sup- 
port. I have never hinted to any one else that I had a 
thought of asking for any help to provide in any such way 
for my family ; & SHOULD NOT TO YOU, but for your 
own suggestion. I fully believe I shall get the help I need to 
operate with West. Last Night a private meeting of some 
gentlemen here ; voted to raise one Thousand Dollars in New 
Haven for that purpose. If you feel at all inclined to en- 
courage me in the measure I have proposed, I shall be grate- 
ful to get a line from you ; Care Massasoit House, Spring- 
field, Mass; & will call when I come again to Boston. I do 
not feel disposed to weary you with my oft repeated visita- 
tions. I believe I am indebted to you as the UNKNOWN 
225 Villard, 279. 



HYPOCRISY 203 

GIVER of One share of Emigrant aid stock ; as I can think 
of no other so likely to have done it. IS MY APPEAL 
RIGHT? 

Mr. Lawrence replied March 20th that he had just sent nearly 
fourteen thousand dollars to Kansas to establish a school fund 
there, and was short of money, but assured him that if his life 
were shortened while engaged in the great cause, "the family of 
'Captain John Brown of Osawatomie' will not be turned out to 
starve in this country, until Liberty herself is driven out." Mr. 
Lawrence and Mr. Stearns afterward agreed to raise the thou- 
sand dollars, but as the payment lagged. Brown "pressed 
to close quarters." May 13th he wrote quite peremptorily to 
Mr. Stearns : 

I must ask to have the $1000 made up at once ; & forwarded 
to Gerrit Smith. I did not start the measure of getting up 
any subscription for me; (although I was sufficiently needy 
as God knows) ; nor had I any thought of further burdening 
either of my dear friends Stearns or Lawrence. . . . 228 

The amount was made up and paid late in August, Mr. Law- 
rence paying $310 of it and Mr. Stearns $260. 

It will never be known how much money Brown secured dur- 
ing this raid through the East. Mr. Villard estimates his cash 
collections at $4,000. The money value of the clothing and 
war material given to him was about $13,000. In addition to 
this Mr. Stearns gave him a cash credit of $7,000 against which 
he could draw from time to time "as it might be needed to sub- 
sist his company after they entered upon active service." He 
also had to his credit with the National Kansas Committee the 
$5,500 it had voted him. His total collections and subscrip- 
tions amounted therefore to about $30,000. A valuable asset 
in his collection of arms was two hundred revolvers, which the 
Massachusetts Arms Company, at Chicopee Falls, agreed, 
through Mr. Thayer, to sell to him for $1,300, fifty per cent 

~ 6 Villard, 281. 



204 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 

of the regular price. Brown notified Mr. Stearns of the offer, 
who promptly placed the order, agreeing to pay for the arms 
by his personal note, in four months from date of delivery. In 
his letter, notifying Brown that he would purchase the revolvers 
for him, Mr. Stearns remarked incidentally: 

I think you ought to go to Kansas as soon as possible, and 
give Robinson and the rest some back bone. 

Also on May 11th he said: 

I am glad to know that you are on your way to Kansas : 
the free State leaders need somebody to talk to them. I hope 
you will see Conway very soon after your arrival. I did not 
expect you to return, or hold pledged to me, any arms you 
use in Kansas, but only such as were not used. 

Yours truly, George L. Stearns. 

Encouraged by the success of his deceptions — "the greedy 
swallowing every where of what I have told," — and flattered 
by the notoriety he had gained, Brown began to take his per- 
sonal criticisms of the Kansas leaders seriously. During the 
latter part of March he became so impressed by his dissatisfac- 
tion with their "incompetence," and, what was worse, with 
their "unwillingness to fight," that he decided to take things 
into his own hands and displace them altogether. He would 
put abler men in charge of Territorial affairs. With this pur- 
pose in view, he modestly requested young Mr. Sanborn, and 
Martin F. Conway, to meet him in conference at the Metro- 
politan Hotel, in New York. From there the trio went to 
Easton, Pennsylvania, where they formally offered the leader- 
ship of the Free-State cause to ex-Governor Reeder, which the 
latter declined, with appropriate thanks. However, the mis- 
sion was not wholly without results. Mr. Villard informs us 
that the ex-Governor was "so heartily in sympathy with 
Brown's plan, that the latter wrote to him for aid, on his return 
to Springfield, explaining that the only difference between them 
was as to the number of men needed, and hoping that Mr. Reed- 



HYPOCRISY 205 

er would soon discover the necessity of going out to Kansas this 

• jj 227 

spring. " 7 

The coming of spring was a serious matter in Brown's af- 
fairs. His "sagacious" forecast called for a renewal of pro- 
slavery aggressions in Kansas, and he was not there to resist 
them, if they arrived. His admirers had responded to his ap- 
peals for arms and money ; and in return, they expected him to 
do something creditable; something worthy of his pretensions. 
Naturally they wanted their hero to be at the front ; they wanted 
to see him at the post of honor, and, if need be, at the post of 
danger. Spring came, but Brown was not ready to go — "not 
yet, but soon." He had not got enough of the kind of money 
he wanted — "Money without questions asked/' Mr. Villard 
says : "April was for Brown another month of active solicita- 
tion of funds." He realized that he had to go, and began mak- 
ing the necessary preparations with reluctance, and in a state of 
despondence wholly inconsistent with heroism ; but true — 
strictly true — of the shamming mendicant. April 16th he 
wrote to Mr. Eli Thayer: 

I am advised that one of "Uncle Sam's hounds is on my 
track;" and I have kept myself hid for a few days to let my 
track get cold. I have no idea of being taken, and intend 
(if God will) to go back with irons in, rather than upon my 
hands. ... I got a fine list in Boston the other day, 
and hope Worcester will not be entirely behind. I do not 
mean you or Mr. Allen & Co. 228 

At this time Brown heard, or pretended that he had heard, 
a rumor that a United States marshal had passed through 
Cleveland on his way East to arrest him for "high treason." 
In consequence of this he sought and obtained a hiding place in 
the home of Judge and Airs. Russell, in Boston, where he re- 
mained concealed several days. Here he indulged in several 
spectacular effects, for the benefit of the Judge and his wonder- 

227 Villard. 282. 

228 Villard, 287. 



206 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 

ing wife. Some of his performances were related by Judge 
Russell, as follows : 

He used to take out his two revolvers, and repeater, every 
night before going to bed, to make sure of their loads, say- 
ing, "Here are eighteen lives." To Mrs. Russell he once 
said, "If you hear a noise at night, put the baby under the 
pillow. I should hate to spoil these carpets, too, but you 
know I cannot be taken alive." Giving an account one day 
of his son Frederick's death, who was shot by Martin 
White, Mrs. Russell broke out, "If I were you, Mr. Brown, 
I would fight those ruffians as long as I lived." "That," he 
replied, "is not a Christian spirit. If I thought I had one bit 
of the spirit of revenge I would never lift my hand ; I do not 
make war on slaveholders, even when I fight them, but on 
slavery." He would hold up Mrs. Russell's little girl, less 
than two years old, and tell her, "When I am hung for trea- 
son, you can say that you used to stand on Captain Brown's 
hand." 229 

Brown had not been charged with treason in Kansas, nor 
was he even under suspicion for "constructive" treason. But 
Kansas treason was then a fashionable offense in the North, 
and Brown, of course, worked it with fine effect upon his listen- 
ers. The Rev. Theodore Parker suggested to Judge Russell a 
way of escape for Brown. He wrote : 

My Dear Judge — If John Brown falls into the hands of 
the marshal from Kansas, he is sure either of the gallows or 
of something yet worse. If I were in his position, I should 
shoot dead any man who attempted to arrest me for those al- 
leged crimes ; then I should be tried by a Massachusetts jury 
and be acquitted. 230 

Brown at one time expressed his contempt for the gullible 
people upon whom he imposed. It was when he was in Kansas 
in 1858, and intended to write a book. He thought the story 

229 Sanborn, 512. 

230 Ibid. 



HYPOCRISY 207 

of his life, as he would write it, would be a good "seller." The 
title was to be "catchy," if there be such a word. It read : 
A brief history of John Brown, otherwise (Old B.) and 

his family : as connected with Kansas ; By one who knows. 

It was to be "sold for the benefit of the whole of my family 
or to promote the cause of Freedom as may hereafter appear." 
There was a mutuality of interest or a unity of Brown and the 
cause of Freedom. Whatever he did for the cause was done 
for the benefit of the family. In writing to his son about this 
venture he said : 

I am certain, from the manner in which I have been pressed 

to narrate, and the greedy swallowing everywhere of what 

I have told, and complaints of the newspapers voluntarily 

made of my backwardness to gratify the public, that the 

book would find a ready sale. 231 

But his sons — John and Jason — disapproved of the ven- 
ture : they were reactionaries ; they thought it best to leave well 
enough alone, and shied at a proposal to skate upon ice so 
treacherous as they knew this departure to be. John said : 23 
"But many a man has committed his greatest blunder when try- 
ing to write a book." 

While at the Russell home Brown evolved a scheme, charac- 
teristic of his craftiness, which he launched in a highly dramatic 
and effective manner. The paper was named : 

OLD BROWN'S FAREWELL 

To the Plymouth Rocks, Bunker Hill Monuments, Charter 
Oaks, and, Uncle Tom's Cabbins. 

Having prepared the paper for the specific purpose of im- 
posing upon Mrs. Stearns, rather than upon Mr. Parker's con- 
gregation, he paid that lady the flattering compliment of desir- 
ing to consult her about "a plan he had," asking her to call on 

231 Villard, 86. 

"2 Villard, 630, note 20. 



208 JOHN BROWN: A CRITIQUE 

him at the Russell home. Her interesting statement of what 
happened is as follows : 

. . . As the address states, Brown was keeping very 
quiet at Judge Russell's house in Boston, partly on account 
of a warrant issued in Kansas for his arrest for high treason, 
and partly because he was ill with fever and ague, a chronic 
form which had been induced by his exposures in Kansas. 
It was in April, 1857, and a chilling easterly storm had pre- 
vailed for many days. Mr. Stearns went frequently to visit 
him, and on Saturday preceding the Sunday morning men- 
tioned by Judge Russell, Captain Brown expressed a wish 
that I should go to see him, as he could not venture in such 
weather on a trip to Medford — emphasizing the request by 
saying that he wished to consult me about a plan he had, and 
that I might come soon. Mr. Stearns gave me his message 
at dinner, and I drove at once to Judge Russell's house. 
As soon as my name was announced Brown appeared, and 
thanking me for the promptness of my visit, proceeded to 
say that he had been "amusing himself" by preparing a little 
address for Theodore Parker to read to his congregation the 
next (Sunday) morning; and that he would feel obliged to 
me for expressing my honest opinion about the propriety of 
this. He then went upstairs, and returned with a paper, 
which proved, in reading, to be "Old Brown's Farewell." 
The emphasis of his tone and manner I shall never forget, 
and wish I could picture him as he sat and read, lifting his 
eyes to mine now and then to see how it impressed me. When 
he finished, he said: "Well, now, what do you think? Shall 
I send it to Mr. Parker?" "Certainly; by all means send it. 
He will appreciate every word you have written, for it rings 
the metal he likes. But I have my doubts about reading it 
to his congregation. A few of them would understand its 
significance, but the majority, I fear, would not. Send it to 
Mr. Parker, and he will do what is best about it." In reply 
he thanked me, and said I had confirmed his own judgment, 
had cleared his mind, and conferred the favor he desired. 
Then, I told him, he must give me a copy to preserve among 



HYPOCRISY 209 

my relics. He replied : "I would give you this, but it is not 
fit. I had such an ague while writing that I could not keep 
my pen steady ; but you shall have a fair copy." In a few 
days he sent the copy I now have, by the hand of Mr. 
Stearns. It will be forwarded with other memorials to the 
Kansas Historical Society. 

This matter being settled, Brown began talking upon the 
subject always uppermost in his thought, and, I may add, 
action also. Those who remember the power of his moral 
magnetism will understand how surely and readily he lifted 
his listener to the level of his own devotion ; so that it sud- 
denly seemed mean and unworthy — not to say wicked — to 
be living in luxury while such a man was struggling for a 
few thousands to carry out his cherished plan. "Oh," said 
he, "if I could have the money that is smoked away during 
a single day in Boston, I could strike a blow which would 
make slavery totter from its foundation." As he said these 
words, his look and manner left no doubt in my mind that he 
was quite capable of accomplishing his purpose. To-day all 
sane men everywhere acknowledge its truth. Well, I bade 
him adieu and drove home, thinking many thoughts — of the 
power of a mighty purpose lodged in a deeply religious soul ; 
of only one man with God on his side. The splendor of 
spring sunshine filled the room when I awoke the next morn- 
ing; numberless birds, rejoicing in the returning warmth 
filled all the air with melody ; dandelions sparkled in the vivid 
grass ; everything was so beautiful, that the wish rose warm 
in my heart to comfort and aid John Brown. It seemed not 
much to do to sell our estate and give the proceeds to him 
for his sublime purpose. What if another home were not as 
beautiful ! When Mr. Stearns awoke, 1 told him my morn- 
ing thoughts. Reflecting a while, he said: "Perhaps it 
would not be just right to the children to do what you sug- 
gest; but I will do all I can in justice to them and you." 
When breakfast was over, he drove to the residence of Judge 
Russell and handed Captain Brown his check for seven 



210 JOHN BROWN: A CRITIQUE 

thousand dollars. But this fact was not known at that time 
and only made public after the death of Mr. Stearns. 233 

The historical Farewell, referred to, is herein reproduced : 
He has left for Kansas ; has been trying since he came out 
of the Territory to secure an outfit, or, in other words, the 
means of arming and thoroughly equipping his regular min- 
ute-men, who are mixed up with the people of Kansas. And 
he leaves the States with a feeling of deepest sadness, that 
after having exhausted his own small means and with his 
family and his brave men suffered hunger, cold, nakedness, 
and some of them sickness, wounds, imprisonment in irons 
with extreme cruel treatment, and others, death; that after 
lying on the ground for months in the most sickly, unwhole- 
some, and uncomfortable places, some of the time with sick 
and wounded, destitute of any shelter, hunted like wolves, 
and sustained in part, by Indians ; that after all this, in order 
to sustain a cause which every citizen of this "glorious re- 
public" is under equal moral obligation to do, and for the 
neglect of which he will be held accountable by God — a 
cause in which every man, woman, and child of the entire 
human family has a deep and awful interest — that when no 
wages are asked or expected, he cannot secure, amid all the 
wealth, luxury, and extravagance of this "heaven-exalted" 
people, even the necessary supplies of the common soldier. 
"How are the mighty fallen?" 

I am destitute of horses, baggage-wagons, tents, harness, 
saddles, bridles, holsters, spurs, and belts ; camp equipage, 
such as cooking and eating utensils, blankets, knapsacks, in- 
trenching-tools, axes, shovels, spades, mattocks, crowbars ; 
have not a supply of ammunition ; have not money sufficient 
to pay freight and travelling expenses ; and left my family 
poorly supplied with common necessaries. 234 
In a letter to Brown of April 17th, Mr. Thayer proposed a 
name for Brown's prospective company, as follows : 

233 Sanborn, 509-510. 

234 Sanborn, 508. 



HYPOCRISY 211 

. . . Will you allow me to suggest a name for your 
company? I should call them, ''The Neighbors," from Luke 
tenth chapter: "Which thinkest thou was neighbor to him 
who fell among thieves." 

What Brown's thoughts were when he read this friendly sug- 
gestion can not well be imagined. The association of the word 
"neighbors" with the phrase "falling among thieves" may have 
caused him to suspect that Thayer held the secret of his dis- 
honor; and that his guilt, hypocrisy, and mendacity might be 
on the verge of exposure. At any rate the effect of the com- 
bination of these words must have sunk deep into his heart. 
They could not but call up afresh, and vividly, a mental vision 
of the scenes on the Pottawatomie, when he and his band of 
thieves fell among, and upon, their neighbors, at midnight, and 
murdered and robbed them. 

Brown's trouble now lay in the fact that he had to leave the 
East and there was nothing which he could do in the West. 
The Free-State cause under the direction of Robinson, and his 
co-laborers: Goodin, Roberts, Holliday, Lane, Crawford, 
Brown, Deitzler, Parrott, Brooks, Dudley, Emery, Wood- 
ward, Learnard, Phillips, Conway, Wood, and many others, 
was progressing in an orderly and satisfactory manner toward 
a decisive victory at the polls. 

Acknowledging the receipt of Mr. Stearns's suggestions that 
he should go to Kansas immediately, Brown wrote him on the 
13th : "I leave for the West to-day." It will be observed that 
he put off no fire-works, nor indulged in any exhibition in he- 
roics on the occasion of his going to his, pretended, field of 
achievement. To William Barnes, of Albany, he wrote April 
3d: 

I expect soon to return West ; & to go back without even 
securing an outfit. I go with a sad heart, having failed to se- 
cure even the means of equipping; to say nothing of feeding 
men. I had when I returned, no more than I could peril ; 



212 JOHN BROWN: A CRITIQUE 

and could make no further sacrifice, except to go about in 

the attitude of a beggar : & that I have done, humiliating as 

it is. 

Proceeding slowly westward, almost aimlessly, with two 
wagons driven by himself and his son Owen, he worked the 
country he passed through for all the money and "supplies" he 
could secure. It was not until August 7th, that he arrived at 
Tabor, Iowa. "I was obliged," he said, 235 "to stop at different 
points on the way, and to go to others off the route to solicit 
help." 

While thus engaged, he wrote the "Autobiography"; a 
paper held in adoration by his biographers. It is in the form 
of a letter addressed to Mr. Stearns's twelve year old son, who 
had obtained "permission from his father to give all his pocket 
money to Captain Brown." It contains nothing that was un- 
usual or extraordinary in the lives of those who wrestled with 
the problems and the privations which were incident to border- 
life during the period of Brown's youth. The paper was writ- 
ten for a special purpose and is valuable as an exhibit of his 
scheming to finance the operations he then intended to under- 
take in Virginia. 236 

John Brown was not a weakling, nor was he wasting any of 
his time trifling with sentiment when he wrote this letter. In 
his brain surged the hopes for success, and the fears of a mis- 
carriage, for lack of funds, of a secret purpose of transcendant 
importance. The parents of young Stearns were the most val- 
uable of his fiscal and moral supporters. Also he carried in 
his pocket the father's check for $7,000. Further, he knew 
that Mr. Stearns was seeking to have the State of New York 
appropriate $100,000 to put in his hands for use in his Kansas 
operations. Though still masquerading under cover of the 
deception which he practiced upon these people, he had definite 

235 Sanborn, 418. 

238 See Appendix IV. 



HYPOCRISY 213 

plans in view, which were not a pretense ; they were secret ; he 
could not unfold them; but they were none the less real. He 
intended to ask Mr. Stearns, and others, to finance his new 
project ; and to do so without inquiring too closely into the 
nature of the details that would be involved in the execution of 
it. He wanted to retain the confidence which these friends 
reposed in him, and under these circumstances wrote the letter 
or autobiography, for the purpose of confirming their faith in 
his sincerity; and to encourage a belief in their minds that he 
was well equipped by heredity and training, to accomplish what 
he intended to undertake, and that he would with certainty 
succeed. 

The problem of accounting for the impending failure of his 
Kansas pretentions was also a serious matter. Mr. Steams 
confidently expected that upon his arrival in Kansas, Brown 
would promptly take up the subject of public affairs with 
Governor Robinson et al, and tell them, sharply, what should 
be done. As he had derived it from Brown, these leaders 
needed a leader: one with courage and energy; and without a 
suspicion that he had been deceived in the premises, he thought 
Brown was equipped for the job, and that he was eager to give 
the Free-State leaders an effective stimulant for "back-bone." 

To keep up the pretense that his destination was Kansas, and 
that his going there had some political significance, Brown 
sought to have some responsible people meet him at Tabor for 
consultation about Kansas matters. He accordingly wrote to 
Colonel Phillips, June 9th, asking him to come, designating 
others whom he desired to meet. Also he wrote to Mr. Wattles 
and to Holmes, and probably to Cook. Phillips answered his 
letter June 24th, informing him that none of the men whom he 
hoped would meet him in the "most quiet way," for a confer- 
ence about "very important matters," in relation to which there 
were to be "no words," was sufficiently impressed with the im- 
portance of his coming to put in an appearance. He also told 



214 JOHN BROWN: A CRITIQUE 

him, what he already knew, that there was no necessity for 
military operations. 

Whether Brown entered Kansas at all, would depend solely 
upon whether or not conditions there were favorable for an- 
other "sudden coup to restore his fortunes." Upon this subject 
he was in correspondence with "Captain" James H. Holmes of 
Osawatomie fame. It will be remembered that Holmes had 
been "promptly and properly indicted and long pursued by the 
Kansas and Missouri authorities for "carrying the war into 
Africa" — stealing horses and other property. Holmes must 
have been a very daring and efficient thief, for Brown greatly 
admired him and "used to call him 'my little hornet.' ' 237 One 
of the Little Hornet's men had been stung. To this Holmes re- 
ferred in a letter which he wrote to Brown April 30th. He 
said: 238 

You will hear of me either at Lawrence, through J. E. 
Cook, of the firm of Bacon, Cook, & Co., or I may be at Em- 
poria, where I have taken a claim and make it my home. At 
any rate, Cook can tell you where I may be. A case has re- 
cently occurred of kidnapping a Free-State man, which is 
this : Archibald Kendall was some two weeks since, enticed 
out, under pretense of trading horses, by four men, and ab- 
ducted into Missouri. Archy was in my company and is a 
good brave fellow. 

In answer to a letter from Brown, Holmes replied August 
16th: 

. . . I do not know what you would have me infer by 
business ; I presume though, by the word being emphasized, 
that you refer to the business for which I learn that you have 
a stock of material with you. If you mean this, I think 
quite strongly of a good opening for this business about the 
first Monday of Oct. next. If you wish other employments, 
I presume you will find just as profitable ones. 239 

227 Sanborn, 392. 

mibid. 

239 Sanborn, 396. 



HYPOCRISY 215 

The "Little Hornet" did not recommend, as profitable, the 
business that might be had on election-day — October 5th ; that 
opportunity foreshadowed the possibility of real resistance 
against pro-slavery aggressions ; but other profitable employ- 
ments could be had, by the act of undertaking them, at any 
time. These thieves understood each other. The "profitable 
employments" meant stealing horses. 

With his arrival at Tabor, August 7th, Brown reached the 
limit of his possibilities. The next day he thus reported his 
arrival to Mr. Stearns : 24 ° 

In consequence of ill-health and other hindrances too nu- 
merous and unpleasant to write about, the least of which 
has not been the lack of sufficient means for freight bills and 
other expenses, I have never as yet returned to Kansas. 
This has been unavoidable, unless I returned without secur- 
ing the principal object for which I came back from the Ter- 
ritory ; and I am now waiting for teams and means to come 
from there to enable me to go on. I obtained two teams 
and wagons, as I talked of, at a cost of seven hundred and 
eighty-six dollars, but was obliged to hire a teamster, 241 and 
to drive one team myself. This unexpected increase of la- 
bor, together with being much of the time quite unwell and 
depressed with disappointments and delays, has prevented my 
writing sooner. Indeed, I had pretty much determined not to 
write till I should do it from Kansas. I will tell you some of 
my disappointments. I was flattered with the expectation of 
getting one thousand dollars from Hartford City and also 
one thousand dollars from New Haven. From Hartford I 
did get about two hundred and sixty dollars, and a little 
over in some repair of arms. From New Haven I got 
twenty-five dollars; at any rate, that is all I can get any 
advice of. Gerrit Smith supplied me with three hundred 
and fifty dollars, or I could not have reached this place. 
He also loaned me one hundred and ten dollars to pay 

240 Sanborn, 411. 

241 His son Owen was the teamster herein referred to. 



216 JOHN BROWN: A CRITIQUE 

to the Thompsons who were disappointed of getting their 
money for the farm I had agreed for and got possession of 
for use. I have been continually hearing from them that I 
have not fulfilled, and I told them I should not leave the 
country till the thing was completed. This has exceedingly 
mortified me. I could tell you much more had I room and 
time. Have not given up. Will write more when I get to 
Kansas. Your friend, 

John Brown. 

He now had at Tabor and at Nebraska City, five wagon loads 
of stuff 242 which was wholly useless for any purpose relating to 
Kansas. He had been posing, for nearly a year, as a hero 
charged with the responsibility of saving Kansas to freedom, 
and had finally come to the end of his rope. To Mr. Sanborn 
he wrote, August 13th : 243 

I am now, at last, within a kind of hailing distance of our 

Free-State friends in Kansas. ... I am now waiting to 

know what is best to do next. 

Four days later he wrote to his wife these significant words : 
Should no disturbance occur, we may possibly think best 

to work back eastward. 244 

To Mr. Adair he wrote: 

I have been trying all season to get to Kansas ; but have 

failed as yet, through ill health, want of means to pay 

Freights, travelling expenses, etc. Hotv to act now ; I do not 

know. 245 

There was nothing more that Brown could do. The failure 
of his pretensions was almost complete. Only his vocabulary 
had survived the general wreck. It was still intact and in work- 
ing order. Drawing upon that inexhaustible resource of the 
charlatan, he wrote to Mr. Sanborn, October 1st: 

242 Sanborn, 411. 

243 Sanborn, 412. 

244 Sanborn, 414. 
2 «5 Villard, 303. 



HYPOCRISY 217 

I am now so far recovered from my hurt, as to be able to 
do a little ; and foggy as it is, "we do not give up the ship." 
I will not say that Kansas, watered by the tears and blood of 
my children, shall yet be free or I fall. 246 

A comparison of Brown's correspondence at this time, with 
what his eulogists have put forth concerning it, discloses a wide 
divergence between the facts therein stated, and the biograph- 
ical fiction relating thereto. Referring to Brown's irrelevant 
reference to the tears and blood of his children, Mr. Villard 
says: 

Brave as this sentiment is, it only increases the mystery of 
Brown's delaying at Tabor. . . . Obviously, Brown, 
grim, self-willed, resolute chieftain that he generally was, 
appeared baffled here and lacking wholly in a determination 
to reach the scene of action at any cost. ... It will be 
seen that, when he finally reached Kansas, he stayed but a 
few days, was practically in hiding, . . . 247 

Only editorial fiction mystifies the cause of his delay at Ta- 
bor. The "grim, self-willed, resolute chieftain" had a clear and 
unalterable purpose in view, when he was delaying there. It 
was to attempt the conquest of the Southern States. If he en- 
tered Kansas, it would be merely an incident in the promotion 
of that scheme. His attitude was pivotal but not enigmatic; 
if a "disturbance" occurred in Kansas, he intended to proceed 
thither, and under cover of it, execute such purposes as he had 
in view ; otherwise, he would "work back eastward." 

One, at least, of his Eastern admirers, Mr. Thomas Went- 
worth Higginson, became impatient because of this delaying. 
After nursing his disappointment a few months, he protested 
Brown's procrastination, which evoked the following instruc- 
tive reply from Mr. Sanborn : 248 

. . . You do not understand Brown's circumstances. 

246 Sanborn, 400. 
2 " Villard, 202. 
248 Villard, 303. 



218 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 

. . . He is as ready for a revolution as any other man, 
and is now on the borders of Kansas, safe from arrest, but 
prepared for action, but he needs money for his present ex- 
penses and active support. I believe he is the best Disunion 
champion you can find, and with his hundred men, when he 
is put where he can raise them, and drill them (for he has an 
expert drill officer with him) he will do more to split the 
Union than a list of 50,000 names, for your convention, good 
as that is. 

What I am trying to hint at is that the friends of Kansas 
are looking with strange apathy at a movement which has all 
the elements of fitness and success — a good plan, a tried 
leader, and a radical purpose. If you can do anything for it 
now, in God's name do it — and the ill result of the new pol- 
icy in Kansas may be prevented. 

On August 13th, the "Cromwellian Trooper" wrote Mr. San- 
born a long letter, 249 which he intended "as a kind of report of 
my progress and success, as much for your committee or my 
friend Stearns as yourself." The letter has no public signifi- 
cance. It is a prolonged whine because he had not received 
all the money that had been promised him ; also it incidentally 
but artistically put Mr. Stearns and Mr. Lawrence in a position 
that practically compelled them to make good the thousand dol- 
lars which he had theretofore pressed Mr. Lawrence for. 250 
He said : 

. . . It was the poor condition of my noble-hearted 
wife and her young children that made me follow up that en- 
couragement with a tenacity that disgusted him and com- 
pletely exhausted his patience. But after such repeated as- 
surances from friends I so much respected that I could not 
suspect they would trifle with my feelings, I made a positive 
bargain for the farm ; and when I found nothing for me at 
Peterboro', I borrowed one hundred and ten dollars of Mr. 
Smith for the men who occupied the farm, telling him it 

249 Sanborn, 412-414. 

250 Ante, note 226. 



HYPOCRISY 219 

would certainly be refunded, and the others that they would 
get all their money very soon, and even before I left the 
country. This has brought me only extreme mortification 
and depression of feeling; for all my letters from home, up 
to the last, say not a dime has been paid in to Mr. Smith. 
Friends who never knew the lack of a sumptuous dinner little 
comprehend the value of such trifling matters to persons cir- 
cumstanced as I am. But, my noble-hearted friend, I am 
"though faint, yet pursuing." . . . 

Brown's hope for a "disturbance" in Kansas was nourished 
by the reports that he received from General Lane, which, doubt- 
less, encouraged him to prolong his stay at Tabor. Concern- 
ing this, Mr. Villard says : 251 

Only the erratic Lane, who was then the sole person trying 
to stir up strife in Kansas, and is accused by respectable wit- 
nesses, of planning schemes of wholesale massacre of pro- 
slavery men through a secret order ; was on fire for Brown's 
presence in the Territory, but it was the Tabor arms, rather 
than their owner, he really desired. 

Lane wrote Brown, confidentially, September 7th, as fol- 
lows : 252 

(Private) 
Sir: 

We are earnestly engaged in perfecting an organization 
for the protection of the ballot-box at the October election 
(first Monday). Whitman and Abbott have been East after 
money & arms, for a month past, they write encouragingly, 
& will be back in a few days. We want you with all the ma- 
terials you have. I see no objections to your coming into 
Kansas publicly. I can furnish you just such a force as you 
may deem necessary for your protection here & after you ar- 
rive. I went up to see you but failed. 

Now what is wanted is this — write me concisely what 
transportation you require, how much money & the number 

25i Villard, 300. 
252 Sanborn, 401. 



220 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 

of men to escort you into the Territory safely & if you desire 
it, I will come up with them. 

To this letter Brown replied September 16th: 

I suppose that three good teams with well covered wag- 
ons, and ten really ingenious, industrious (not gassy) men, 
with about one hundred and fifty dollars in cash, could bring 
it about in the course of eight or ten days. 
Lane, hoping to make his proposition more attractive, ap- 
pointed Brown Brigadier-General, Second Brigade, First Divi- 
sion. But not until the 29th, did he send his Quartermaster- 
General, Mr. Jamison, to Brown, for the arms. In a letter ad- 
dressed to "General John Brown" Lane said that it was "all 
important to Kansas, that your things should be in at the earli- 
est possible moment, and that you should be much nearer than 
you are." He also enclosed fifty dollars, "all the money I 
have," but said that Jamison "had some more." Naturally 
Lane's proposal failed to interest Brown. He replied that he 
could not go to Lawrence on such short notice and returned the 
fifty dollars. 253 The election, however, passed off quietly and 
resulted in a complete victory for the Free-State men. They 
elected their delegate to Congress, and thirty-three of the fifty- 
two members of the Legislature. 

Another of Lane's schemes served to keep Brown at Tabor 
a month longer: a project for "the wholesale assassination of 
pro-slavery men through a secret order" called Danites. This 
time Mr. Whitman ably seconded Lane's efforts to interest 
Brown. He borrowed one hundred and fifty dollars which he 
enclosed with a letter to him and sent it by Mr. Charles P. Tidd, 
saying: "General Lane will send teams from Falls City so 
that you may get your goods all in. Leave none behind. 
Come direct to this place, and see me before you make any dis- 
position of your plunder. . . Make the money I send an- 
swer to get here, and I hope by that time to have more for you. 
253 Sanborn, 402. 



HYPOCRISY 221 

Mr. Tidd will explain all." 25 * That this messenger gave 
Brown inside information concerning the prospective assassina- 
tions, there can be little doubt. 

October 25th, Mr. Whitman reported to Mr. Stearns 255 that 
Brown would be at Lawrence November 3d, "at a very im- 
portant council : Free-State Central Com., Executive Com., 
Vigilance Committee of 52, Generals and Capts. of the entire 
organization." Such a "disturbance" as this promised to be, 
could not otherwise than interest Brown. Regarding the money 
he received from Whitman as money due him from the Na- 
tional Kansas Committee, he kept it ; and disregarding the in- 
structions concerning the arms, he proceeded personally to 
Kansas, arriving at Mr. Whitman's home about November 
5th : too late, it will be observed, for him to participate in the 
important council meeting of the 3d; but not too late to take 
advantage of any public disturbance that might arise as a result 
of the proceedings of the council. By messenger Tidd, Brown 
received one hundred dollars from Mr. Adair, and upon his ar- 
rival at Lawrence, he received from Mr. Whitman five hundred 
dollars for account of the Massachusetts Kansas Committee. 

All the prospects for "trouble" in Kansas having vanished, 
Brown promptly decided to "move eastward." Mr. Villard 
states that he "remained two days with Mr. Whitman, obtain- 
ing tents and bedding." From Topeka, when en route to the 
East, on the 16th, he wrote to Mr. Stearns that he had "been in 
Kansas for more than a week ;" that he had "found matters 
quite unsettled;" but was "decidedly of the opinion that there 
will be no use for arms or ammunition before another Spring;" 
that he had them all safe and meant "to keep them so." Also 
that he meant "to be busily; but very quietly engaged in per- 
fecting his arrangements during the Winter." He further 
said : "Before getting your letter saying to me not to draw on 

- 54 Sanborn, 404. 
255 Villard, 304. 



222 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 

you for the $7,000 (by Mr. Whitman) I had fully determined 
not to do so unless driven to the last extremity." In a post- 
script he said : "If I do not use the arms and ammunition in 
actual service ; I intend to restore them unharmed ; but you must 
not flatter yourself on that score too soon.'" 

It will be observed that Brown did not call upon Governor 
Robinson, or make any recommendations concerning Terri- 
torial affairs. To Mr. Adair he wrote on the 17th: "I have 
been for some days in the territory but keeping very quiet and 
looking about to see how the land lies. . . I do not wish to 
have any noise about me at present ; as I do not mean to 'trouble 
Israel.' I may find it best to go back to Iowa." 25G 

The "failure" of Brown's plans to "trouble Israel," or the 
failure of his hope for another opportunity to plunder Kansas 
settlers on a large scale, lay in the simple fact that at the time 
he arrived at Tabor, August 7, 1857, the Free-State leaders had 
worked out the Free-State problem, and were then in position 
to make official declaration of the fact at the polls ; and to take 
over, into their own hands, by right of the law of Squatter 
Sovereignty, the control of the Territorial government. They 
had almost accomplished their mighty undertaking. Also, they 
had established conditions of order, and security from violence, 
that afforded neither encouragement nor opportunity for or- 
ganized bands of thieves, of the Brown type, to prey upon the 
settlements. The activities of the marauder and his "Little 
Hornet" were barred. 



256 Villard, 306. 



CHAPTER IX 



A SOLDIER OF FORTUNE 



He was the mildest manner' d man that ever scuttled ship 
or cut a throat. —Don Juan 

At Collinsville, Connecticut, about March 1, 1857, John Brown 
gave out the first evidence that he contemplated inciting an in- 
surrection in the Southern States. He was there making his 
usual appeal for money. To a group of citizens, among whom 
was a Mr. Charles Blair, he told the story of Black Jack ; and, 
as was his custom in such recitals, he drew from his boot a 
trophy of the fight — a two-edged dirk-knife with a blade about 
eight inches long — which he had taken from Captain Pate; 
and said, that if he "had a lot of those things to attach to poles 
about six feet long, they would be a capital weapon of defense 
for the settlers of Kansas to keep in their log cabins to defend 
themselves against any sudden attack that might be made upon 
them." And then turning to Blair, whom he knew to be an edge- 
tool maker, asked him what it would "cost to make five hundred 
or a thousand of those things" as he described them. To this 
Blair replied that he would make "five hundred for a dollar and 
a quarter apiece; or if he wanted a thousand, they might be 
made for a dollar apiece." To this Brown replied that he would 
want them made. March 30th, a contract for the thousand 
spears was signed, Brown agreeing to pay five hundred dollars 
within ten days. At the time agreed upon he paid three hun- 
dred dollars ; but April 25th, he remitted two hundred and fifty 
dollars more. This amount Blair expended in purchasing ma- 
terial, and in making a part of the order ; after which he suspend- 
ed work on it until such time as Brown would advance addition- 



224 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 

al funds. There was some correspondence between the parties 
in February and March, 1858, but nothing further was done in 
the matter until June 3, 1859, when Brown again called upon 
Blair and made satisfactory arrangements for payment of the 
remaining four hundred and fifty dollars ; whereupon Blair re- 
newed work upon the order, and, on September 17th, delivered 
the spears complete, at Chambersburg, Pennsylvania. 257 

In New York City, Brown made the acquaintance of an Eng- 
lishman who entered into his life more largely, and gave greater 
direction to his actions, than his biographers have acknowledg- 
ed. This man was "Colonel" Hugh Forbes. Brown called upon 
him, it is said, with a letter of introduction from the Rev. Joshua 
Leavitt. The date of their meeting is not given ; but, since 
Brown is not reported as being in that city during 1857, after 
his visit there, January 23d-26th, 258 it may be assumed that they 
met upon that occasion, and together planned to precipitate a 
revolution in the South, through an insurrection of the slave 
population. Forbes was a practical as well as a professional 
revolutionist. He had served with Garibaldi. Mr. Villard re- 
fers to him as "a suave adventurer of considerable ability." 
To Mr. Horace Greeley he was "fanatical and mercenary and 
wholly wanting in common sense." Gerrit Smith described 
him as a "handsome, soldierly-looking man, skillful in the 
sword-exercise, and with some military experience picked up 
under Garibaldi." Before entering the latter's service he had 
been a "silk merchant at Sienna." In Mr. Sanborn's opinion 
he was a "brave, vainglorious, undisciplined person, with little 
discretion, and quite wanting in qualities that would fit him to 
be a leader of American soldiers. Yet he was ambitious, eager 
to head a crusade against slavery." In New York he taught 
fencing, and did some work on the Tribune as reporter and 
translator. 



-^ Mason Report, 123-125. Testimony of Charles Blair. 
238 Villard, 674. 



A SOLDIER OF FORTUNE 225 

It was not unnatural that these two adventurers should meet 
and unite their fortunes in a revolutionary venture. Also, there 
was some similarity in their lives. Both were "typical of the 
human flotsam and jetsam washed up by every revolutionary 
movement." Forbes had been washed up by Garibaldi's "revo- 
lution" in Italy, and Brown had been washed up by Robinson's 
revolution in Kansas. Forbes was looking for an adventure, 
and Brown had a make-believe one on hand, which, if prudently 
handled, might be made to serve the purposes of their mutual 
ambitions. The suave adventurer was the stronger character. 
He impressed Brown with his knowledge of military science, 
and with the value his services would be in their undertaking, 
and so fascinated the "grim, self-willed, resolute chieftain" 
that he engaged his services at one hundred dollars per month, 
and paid him six months' salary in advance. Mr. Villard 
says : 259 

John Brown, the reticent and self-contained, unbosomed 
himself to this man as he had not to his Massachusetts 
friends who advanced the money upon which he lived and 
plotted. 
In relation to this Mr. Sanborn says : 2G0 

It was about this time that Brown made the unlucky ac- 
quaintance of Hugh Forbes, was pleased with him, and en- 
gaged him to drill his soldiers at a salary of one hundred dol- 
lars a month, even going so far as to pay him six hundred 
dollars in advance. 

Both of these major transactions — the placing of the order 
for the spears, and the employment of Forbes, as stated — are 
so discreditable to ordinary intelligence, that they impeach 
Brown's sanity, except upon the sole hypothesis, that these two 
men had, at that time, so matured their plans for attempting 
a revolution, through an insurrection of the slaves, that Brown 
felt justified in placing the order for the spears, and in engaging 

259 Villard, 285. 
2G0 Sanborn, 398. 



226 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 

the services of a man capable of directing large military opera- 
tions. It is impossible to believe that Brown contemplated giv- 
ing up a thousand dollars for a purpose so tame and absurd as 
the distribution of a thousand spears among the Free-State set- 
tlers of Kansas. They were already well armed with modern 
weapons — fire-arms — and knew how to use them ; while the 
proposal to employ a "drill-master" at such a salary, in view of 
the state of his treasury, to drill such a lot of nightriders 
as he could use in Kansas, is quite as preposterous. If Brown 
needed the services of a drill-master, he knew where one could 
be had for less money. There were plenty of men available 
who had served in the volunteer army in Mexico, or had been 
discharged, or had deserted from the regular army — men of 
the Aaron D. Stevens class — who were competent to com- 
mand as well as to drill. He also knew that many such men 
were ready and anxious to engage in adventures in the Kansas 
field, who would serve without compensation, other than a share 
of the prospective plunder. 

From the time of his alliance with Forbes, Brown pressed 
forward steadily, with a single definite ultimate purpose. The 
conquest of the Southern States was on ; and the Osawatomie 
Guerrilla had become the Soldier of Fortune. 

Brown and Forbes moved upon the theory that the slaves- 
were the rightful owners of their masters' property. They be- 
lieved that every slave regarded his master as an enemy, who 
denied him a right to his family, and appropriated to himself 
the fruits of his labor ; that freedom was the hope and the dream 
of every slave; that each lived in a state of expectancy, await- 
ing the coming of a "Liberator" who would lead them in a cru- 
sade for liberty. Also, they believed that every slave would 
fight for his freedom. Self-constituting themselves "Libera- 
tors," they regarded each slave as already enrolled in their ser- 
vice. The problems before them were how to arouse these 
units of energy ; how to incite the slaves to simultaneous activ- 



A SOLDIER OF FORTUNE 227 

ity, and how to organize and direct them as an operating force. 
The man who had killed his friendly neighbors with nonchal- 
ance, and had taken their horses, could not understand why an- 
other man, a slave, should hesitate to kill an enemy, such as has 
been described, and take his horses and lands, and be further 
rewarded by the benefaction of liberty. 

As results of their plotting, and planning, and scheming, they 
seem to have figured out to their entire satisfaction, how they 
could destroy the slave-holding population of the Southern 
States and confiscate their property; and then, with the aid of 
their negro allies, thus liberated from slavery, and with the as- 
sistance of the non-slave-holding whites in the South and the 
ambitious and daring in the North, who would be lured to join 
them, they could create an army ; invade the South ; take pos- 
session of the several State governments, and reorganize them 
under the jurisdiction of a Provisional Government. 

Brown was a disunionist, 261 and believed his revolution 
would result in a dissolution of the Union. His friends — 
Redpath, Sanborn, Higginson, Smith ct ai, were disunionists, 
and he lived in an atmosphere saturated with the toxin of dis- 
union sentiment. Also, he was an optimist, and believed that 
while he ravaged the South with his bloody scourge, the dis- 
union propaganda in the North would assert itself to his ad- 
vantage, and create such a diversion in his favor, as would 
leave him and Forbes free to deal with the South and its prob- 
lems in their own way. Only under such conditions could he 
hope to seize the property of slaveholders, "personal and real, 
wherever and whenever it may be found in either Free or Slave 
States." From their point of view, or as they hoped to make 
it appear,' their revolution was to be an affair between the citi- 
zens of a block of sovereign States, in the result of which the 
Federal Government would not be especially concerned. They 
would act within the limits of the States involved for revolu- 

261 Villard, 303. 

15 



228 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 

tionary purposes, and not in unnecessarily aggressive hostility 
toward the United States. At the same time, these adventurers 
well understood that no matter how successful they might be in 
starting their revolution, there would probably come a time 
when the Federal army would have to be reckoned with; that 
the General Government would attempt to intervene in behalf of 
local order, at least, and might seriously embarrass their op- 
erations or wholly defeat them. This visible menace they not 
only planned to overcome, or eliminate from the problem, but 
actually to turn it into a valuable asset, by transposing it bodily 
to their side of the military equation. (They planned, in ap- 
parent sincerity of purpose, to accomplish what appears to be 
the most colossal of all imaginable absurdities : to have the men 
of the United States army abandon their colors and accept ser- 
vice in their army; or, as Brown expressed it, to make an 
"actual exchange of service from that of Satan to the service 
of God.") 

To poison the minds of the soldiery of the Union and to ripen 
them for revolt against their colors, they planned to begin a 
campaign of education ; to publish and distribute in the army, a 
series of tracts, for the instruction of the officers and enlisted 
men in public morals and in patriotism. In the division of their 
labors, to Forbes was assigned the Department of Literature. 
In pursuance of his duties, he proceeded to prepare a "Manual 
of the Patriotic Volunteer," and a tract, which was the first of 
what was to be a series of tracts, entitled "The Duty of the 
Soldier." 262 The tract was headed in small type : "Presented 
with respectful and kind feelings, to the Officers and Soldiers 
of the United States Anny in Kansas." Mr. Villard says 263 
the object of the tract was to win them from their allegiance 
to their colors. That it does this indirectly by asking whether 
the "Soldiers of the Republic" should be "vile living machines 

262 Hinton, John Brown and His Men, 615. 

263 Villard, 297. 



A SOLDIER OF FORTUNE 229 

and thus sustain Wrong against Right." That it contained 
"three printed pages of rambling and discursive discussion of 
the soldiery of the ancient Republics and of the princes of An- 
tiquity, and a consideration of Authority, legitimate and ille- 
gitimate — as ill-fitted as possible an appeal to the regular sol- 
dier of 1857." Appended to the copy in his possession is a 
closing remark in Brown's handwriting as follows : 

It is as much the duty of the common soldier of the U. S. 
Army according to his ability and opportunity, to be in- 
formed upon all subjects in any way affecting the political 
or general welfare of his country; and to watch with jealous 
vigilance, the course and management of all public function- 
aries both civil and miltary : and to govern his actions as a 
citizen Soldier accordingly : as though he were President of 
the United States. Respectfully yours, 

A Soldier. 
To one person at least, this literary performance was a seri- 
ous matter. In the promotion of it, John Brown was deeply, 
deadly in earnest. The statement that "Forbes and not Brown, 
was the author of the tract" 264 is not correct, and to character- 
ize the paper as Forbes's attempt to seduce the soldiery of the 
Union, 265 is equally misleading. The scheme originated with 
Brown ; he furnished the subject. To Forbes he assigned the 
duty of preparing the text for publication. Writing to Rev. 
Theodore Parker, from Boston, March 7, 1858, he said : 

. . . I want you to undertake to provide a substitute 
for an address you saw last season, directed to the officers 
and soldiers of the United States Army. The ideas con- 
tained in that address I, of course, like for I furnished the 
skeleton. I never had the ability to clothe those ideas in 
language at all, to satisfy myself. ... In the first place 
it must be short or it will not be generally read. It must be 
in the simplest or plainest language, without the least affec- 

2 6* Villard, 297. 
2«5Villard. 298. 



230 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 

tation of the scholar about it, and yet be worded with great 
clearness and power. . . . The address should be ap- 
propriate, and particularly adapted to the peculiar circum- 
stances we anticipate, and should look to the actual change of 
service from that of Satan to the service of God. It should be 
in short, a most earnest and powerful appeal to men's sense of 
right and to their feelings of humanity. Soldiers are men, 
and no man can certainly calculate the value and importance 
of getting a single "nail into old Captain Kidd's chest." It 
should be provided beforehand, and be ready in advance to 
distribute by all persons, male and female, who may be dis- 
posed to favor the right. . . . Now, my dear sir, I have 
told you about as well as I know how, what I am anxious 
at once to secure. Will you write the tracts, or get them 
written, so that I may commence colporteur? 260 
There can be no doubt that Brown placed a high estimate 
upon the value of this tract, but we know from the postscript 
thereto, that, although the tract was dedicated to the "Officers 
and Soldiers" of the army, it was the "common soldier" that he 
hoped to arouse and incite. His effort to convert the army to 
his service, by means of a tract, may be called madness, but it 
may also be said there was "method" in the madness. If he 
had been criticised in relation to this matter, he would probably 
have said in reply what he said to Mr. Sanborn, defending his 
action in ordering the thousand spears : "Wise men may rid- 
icule the idea; but I take the whole responsibility of that job;" 
which was equivalent to saying : "You do not comprehend the 
scope of my scheme, or the use which I intend to make of these 
spears. When they have accomplished their silent but deadly 
work, the wisdom of my conduct concerning them will ap- 
pear." The trouble in this case was how to obtain an op- 
portunity to inject the virus of revolt into the ranks of the army 
— how to start the contagion — how to get his proposition be- 
fore the troops, and to explain what he intended to do; and 
266 Sanborn, 448. 



A SOLDIER OF FORTUNE 231 

what he would have at his disposal to offer in the way of re- 
wards for services in his army, without putting himself and his 
plans in peril. How he intended to use the tract can only be 
surmised. But the fact remains that he had to begin this all 
important move somehow or somewhere, and the tract was, 
probably, evolved from his inner consciousness to meet that ne- 
cessity. It may therefore be assumed that, under cover of dis- 
cussing the generalities contained in the tract, Brown hoped to 
make acquaintances among the enlisted men of the army in 
whom he could confide, and who would serve his purpose by 
fomenting the revolt. 

In projecting his campaign, Brown was a law unto himself, 
untrammelled by the accepted usages of war. The excess of 
his ardor and enthusiasm led him to believe that he could cor- 
rupt the rank and file of the army. In his philosophy, the dar- 
ing, dangerous, adventurous men who largely composed the en- 
listed men of the army at that time, having no hope of promo- 
tion in the service, would become eager listeners to his 
proposal. Before them, he would throw open the storehouses 
of his prospective empire, that they might behold the volume of 
his treasures, and select that which they desired. His army 
was to be created ; he had the men in view — the slaves whom 
he would set free — but not the officers to command them. If 
the enlisted men would desert from their service singly or en 
masse, and thus temporarily paralyze the United States forces, 
and join him, they could immediately become commissioned 
officers in his army and share with him the honors, the booty, 
and the beauty of the rich country he intended to ravage. By 
means of these "mighty and soul satisfying rewards" he hoped 
to "seduce the soldiery of the Union." The campaign of edu- 
cation was a stratagem. 

It is not apparent that Forbes, at any time, showed a desire 
to quit Brown's service, or any disinclination to follow him 
westward. It is true that he was in arrears at one time with 



232 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 

his literary work, but that was due to an incidental diversion of 
his activities in other directions — soliciting contributions and 
collecting money from various benevolent persons, including 
Mr. Greeley and M;r. Gerrit Smith. Forbes also had been mak- 
ing necessary arrangements for the comfort of his family — a 
wife and a daughter. The former being in Paris, and the lat- 
ter in New York, he wisely decided, in view of the character of 
the pending military operations, to have the latter return to the 
care of her mother. Brown, who was paying the price, re- 
quired results rather than explanations. It appears that Forbes 
had not prepared the "Manual" within the time in which he had 
led his impetuous chief to believe it would be forthcoming ; and 
this had aroused an unwarranted suspicion in his mind that his 
subordinate was lagging. It is also true that Forbes had been in- 
discreet from a "military" point of view. He had talked, as 
one having authority, or knowingly, about the situation in Kan- 
sas, and had committed the very serious mistake of expressing 
a doubt that their services would be needed there before winter, 
which would have a tendency to discourage contributions to 
the "cause of freedom." In addition to all this, Brown became 
suspicious that the "Colonel" was ambitious, and aspired to 
supersede him in command ; or, it may be that he became jealous 
because of his subordinate's brilliant accomplishments — his 
"military bearing" and qualifications. Mr. Sanborn confirmed 
Brown's distrust of him. He says that "Forbes was ambitious 
and apparently desirous of taking Brown's place in command." 
It may, however, be nearer the truth to assume that the de- 
pleted condition of the exchequer had much to do with Brown's 
"dissatisfaction" with Forbes. 

There is no apparent reason why Forbes should have pre- 
ceded Brown into Kansas, and the fact that he arrived at Tabor 
August 9th, two days after the arrival of his chief, is proof of 
commendable alacrity on his part to take up and continue his 
duties. Besides, Forbes brought with him copies of the "Man- 



A SOLDIER OF FORTUNE 233 

tial," and copies of Brown's specialty: "The Duty of the Sol- 
dier." With these evidences of his ability, fidelity, and loyalty, 
the shadows of distrust were all dispelled, and Forbes's restora- 
tion to Brown's confidence and favor resulted immediately. The 
next day Brown was in a hopeful mood, and wrote very en- 
couragingly to Mr. Stearns, sending him copies of the tracts 
and, incidentally, impressing upon his attention the important 
fact that he was "in immediate want of Five Hundred to One 
Thousand Dollars for secret service and no questions asked.'' 
There can be no doubt that in their poverty, but dreaming of 
the splendors of war, of marching armies, and the possibilities 
of empire, these two bankrupt but hopeful speculators in des- 
tiny gazed wistfully upon the order for the seven thousand dol- 
lars that Stearns had given to Brown after his "Farewell to the 
Plymouth Rocks" effort. The question was, how to get some 
of it. Unfortunately for their purpose, Mars was not doing a 
thing for them ; they were unable to detect even so much as a 
trace of a war-cloud upon the Kansas sky ; and the $7,000 could 
only be used for the subsistence of the make-believe troopers 
when in "active service." Under these circumstances they did 
the best they could ; they made as much as possible out of noth- 
ing. They wrote Mr. Stearns what he already knew; that 
there was no fighting in Kansas "just then" ; and, that while 
"Rather interesting times were expected, no great excitement is 
reported." But "Our next advices may entirely change the as- 
pect of things." From this, Mr. Stearns was to be led to infer 
that imminent danger to the Free-State cause was lurking 
somewhere, and that the sagacious leader was already upon the 
trail of it. Also, the hope that Brown earnestly expressed that 
the "Friends of Freedom" would respond to his call and "prove 
me now herewith," was intended to move Mr. Stearns to au- 
thorize Brown to draw upon him for a part of the seven thou- 
sand dollars for their immediate necessities. But, although 
the request was wisely framed and neatly but urgently pressed, 



234 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 

it failed to raise any money. To Theodore Parker Brown wrote 

September 11th: 267 

My dear Sir: Please find on other side, first number of 
a series of tracts lately gotten up here. I need not say I did 
not prepare it ; but I would be glad to know what you think 
of it, and much obliged for any suggestions you see proper 
to make. My particular object in writing is to say, that I 
am in immediate want of some five hundred or one thousand 
dollars for secret service, and no questions asked. I want the 
friends of freedom to "prove me now herewith." . . Have 
no news to send by letter. 

Stranded at Tabor, without means to go anywhere, or with 
which to do anything, the two leaders of the revolution had 
abundant leisure to compare their respective plans of operation, 
and their views upon methods of procedure, as well as to formu- 
late and agree upon final plans for the invasion and conquest. 
Forbes, later, disclaimed any intention to participate in 
"Brown's" purpose to overthrow the State Governments, and 
establish a provisional government ; but that disclaimer came 
as an incident in his effort to supersede Brown, after his name 
had been dropped from the muster and pay-roll. November 
1st, the financial embargo was raised by the receipt of two hun- 
dred and fifty dollars : one hundred and fifty from Lane, and 
one hundred from Mr. Adair. It was not a large sum of 
money, when compared with the expenses usually incurred in 
"mobilizing" even a small army, or, as compared with the mag- 
nitude of the operations they intended to inaugurate ; but it 
was large enough to enable the filibusters to start doing some- 
thing. 

In their dreams of the Provisional Government and in 
their planning for the Provisional army, they decided to open 
a school for instruction in the science of war and in the science 
of civil government, at some point convenient to the scene of 
the prospective conflict ; whereat the persons whom Brown had 

- er Sanborn, 422. 



A SOLDIER OF FORTUNE 235 

in view for his subordinate commanders — general officers, 
division and military district commanders — could be swiftly 
educated and fitted for ther respective duties and responsibil- 
ities. Forbes, whose position was that of a chief of staff, was 
to have charge of the school. November 2d, he took passage 
from Nebraska City for the East to find a suitable location, in 
Ashtabula County, Ohio, for the War College which was to be 
improvised ; and Brown, as we have seen, proceeded to Kansas 
to further finance their venture if local conditions — "disturb- 
ances" — became favorable for fiscal operations ; and to matric- 
ulate the tyros. 

He had been in correspondence with Holmes — the "Little 
Hornet" — and other adventurers whom he thought would en- 
gage in his enterprises. Cook agreed to join him and recom- 
mended others — Richard Realf, Luke F. Parsons, and Richard 
J. Hinton. 268 On Sunday, November 8th, Brown met Cook 
and Parsons, near Lawrence, and came to an understanding 
with them for organizing a party to steal some horses ; or, as 
Mr. Villard puts it : "To organize a company for the purpose 
of putting a stop to the aggressions of the pro-slavery forces." 
A few days later he notified the members of the party to meet 
at the appointed rendezvous. Cook met him on the 16th, at 
Mrs. Sheridan's, near Topeka. The next day Aaron D. Ste- 
vens, Charles W. Moffet, and John H. Kagi joined them, and 
the party set out on the contemplated expedition. 

In their camp north of Topeka that evening, Brown took the 
men into his confidence, and disclosed to them his intention to 
attempt the conquest of the Southern States. 269 "Here," says 
Cook in his confession, "for the first time I learned that we 
were to leave Kansas to attend a military school during the 
winter." It is for the reader to decide for himself whether or 
not the party stole any horses that night, or what other steps 
they took, if any, to put "a stop to the aggressions of the pro- 

268 Villard, 308. 

26 9 Ibid. 



236 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 

slavery forces." Their destination was Tabor, Iowa; they 
were horse thieves, and were in a secret camp, north of To- 
peka. Continuing his narrative Cook says: "Next morning 
I was sent back to Lawrence to get a draft of $80 cashed, and 
to get Parsons, Realf and Hinton. to go back with me." He 
relates how he with Realf and Parsons, made the trip to Tabor ; 
but the route traveled by Brown, Stevens, Moffet, and Kagi, 
and the incidents of their journey, if any, are not given. 

December 2d, there were assembled at Tabor, John Brown, 
Owen Brown, A. D. Stevens, Charles W. Moffett, C. P. Tidd, 
John H. Kagi, Richard Realf, Luke F. Parsons, John E. Cook, 
and W. M. Leeman ; also Richard Richardson, a runaway slave 
whom Brown had picked up at Tabor. "Here," Cook says, 
"we found that Captain Brown's ultimate destination was the 
State of Virginia" ; and these were the men he had selected for 
his commanders in the Army of the Invasion. They were not 
a coterie of humanitarians or sentimentalists whom he had 
picked up, mooning about in Kansas; but a lot of care-free, 
reckless, ambitious young men who had parted their moorings 
to an orderly life. Of them Senator Doolittle, speaking for the 
minority of the Mason Committee said : "It was from such 
elements [lawless] that John Brown concocted his conspiracy 
consisting of young men and boys over whom he had entire 
control, many of them foreigners and none of substance or posi- 
tion in the country." 27 ° It is not in the "dominating spirit of 
John Brown himself must be found the true reason for their 
readiness to join in so desperate a venture as Brown outlined to 
them or because of their readiness to go any lengths to under- 
mine slavery." 271 Cook knew Brown's career from the Pot- 
tawatomie to Osawatomie, and approved of his system for 
undermining things. Parsons was with him in the Osawat- 
omie cattle raid. Stevens had graduated from a volunteer in 

270 Mason Report, 23. 
271 Villard, 310. 



A SOLDIER OF FORTUNE 237 

the Mexican War, to a private in the First Dragoons, United 
States army. He was insubordinate, and had been tried for 
mutiny and for assaulting an officer — Major George A. H. 
Blake, First Dragoons — and sentenced to death. The sen- 
tence had been commuted to confinement, for three years at 
hard labor, in the military prison at Fort Leavenworth, from 
which he escaped and joined the Free-State forces in Kansas. 
He became colonel of the Second Regiment in the Free-State 
army under the name of Charles Whipple. It was not Brown 
and his magnetism or any insipid nonsense about "philanthropy 
or love for the slave" that appealed to these adventurers, but 
the scheme which he unfolded before them. It was the charm 
of the glittering expanse of opportunity which he pressed upon 
their mental conceptions, that won, and enlisted them in the 
venture. 

On December 4th, with their plunder, ordnance stores and 
camp and garrison equipment, Brown and his staff set out from 
Tabor for Ashtabula. There had been argument, disagree- 
ment, and some wrangling at Tabor about the practicability of 
the undertaking ; but yielding to the force of Brown's exposi- 
tion of it, opposition was silenced and confidence of success sup- 
planted doubt in the minds of all. Of the march across Iowa 
to Iowa City and Springdale, Mr. Villard, quoting from frag- 
ments of Owen Brown's diary, that survived the wreck at Har- 
per's Ferry, says: "Progress was slow, for all of the 
men walked and the weather was bitter cold. On De- 
cember 8, the entry reads : 'Cold, wet and snowy ; hot discus- 
sion about the Bible and war — warm argument about the 
effects of the abolition of slavery upon the Southern States, 
Northern States Commerce and manufactures, also upon the 
British provinces and the civilized world; whence came our 
civilization and origin? Talk about prejudices against color; 
question proposed for debate, — greatest general, Washington 
or Napoleon.' " The party arrived at Springdale, Iowa, on 



238 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 

the 28th or 29th of December. Early in January, 1858, Brown 
changed his plans about going to Ashtabula County, and for 
opening there the School of Instruction. On January 11th, he 
located his men for the winter at the home of Mr. William Max- 
son, the latter agreeing to take the wagons and horses from 
Brown on account for boarding. The War College was then 
opened at Springdale, instead of in Ashtabula County ; and with 
Stevens in charge instead of Forbes. Continuing his narrative 
about the doings of the school, Mr. Villard says : 272 "On the 12th 
(February) there was 'talk about our adventures and plans.' 
In the main, discussion ranged from theology and spiritualism 
to caloric engines, and covered every imaginable subject be- 
tween them. Much talk of war and fighting there was, and 
drilling with wooden swords. Stevens, by reason of his ser- 
vice in the Mexican War, and subsequently in the United States 
Dragoons, was drill-master in default of Forbes. Sometimes 
they went into the woods to look for natural fortifications; 
again they discussed dislodging the enemy from a hill-top by 
means of zig-zag trenches. Forbes manual was diligently 
perused." Also they organized a "moot legislature and be- 
guiled the long winter evenings, drafting laws for an ideal 
'State of Topeka.' It followed the regulation procedure with 
its bills and debates." The curriculum in this school is evi- 
dence of the character of the duties the students therein were 
being fitted to perform ; they were being instructed in the higher 
strategy of war, in the command of troops and in the science 
pf government. Writing to Mr. Sanborn from Brooklyn, 
February 26th, Brown said : 273 

I want to put into the hands of my young men, copies of 
Plutarch's "Lives," Irving's "Life of Washington," the best 
written Life of Napoleon, and other similar books, together 
with maps and statistics of States. . . I also want to get 
a quantity of best white cotton drilling — some hundred 

272 Villard, 315. 

273 Sanborn, 443. 



A SOLDIER OF FORTUNE 239 

pieces, if I can get it. The use of this article I will explain 

hereafter. 

About January 1st, the two Soldiers of Fortune — Brown 
and Forbes — arrived at the parting of their ways. They 
seem to have been in agreement and in full sympathy with each 
other when they separated November 2d; for Brown at that 
time gave Forbes a letter to Mr. Frederick Douglass, com- 
mending him to his confidence and asking Douglass to assist 
him. The letter Forbes lost no time in presenting. He 
stopped at Rochester, as he went east, and got what money he 
could. Mr. Douglass says 274 that he was not favorably im- 
pressed with Forbes at first, but took him to a hotel and paid 
his board while he remained, and gave him some money for his 
family in Europe, then in destitute circumstances. He intro- 
duced him to some of his German friends whom Forbes "soon 
wore out with his endless begging." 

Failing to collect money for the cause, as fast as he thought 
he was entitled to, or as fast as he needed it, Forbes began to 
try to force contributions from Brown's friends, claiming that 
he had been employed by him, and that sums of money were 
due him on account of arrears of salary. Later he threatened 
to expose Brown's plans of invasion, believing, or assuming to 
believe, that such plans were a part of a general conspiracy, 
among the northern Abolitionists, to overthrow slavery. In- 
formation relating to his conduct was received by Brown at 
Springdale, and caused him to halt there until he could ascer- 
tain the extent of Forbes's defection. Upon confirmation of 
his advices, and being unable to pay Forbes's salary, he dropped 
him; refused to answer his letters, and changed his plans of 
procedure. Pressed by his necessities, Forbes became aggres- 
sive, and, carrying his case to Mr. Charles Sumner and to Mr. 
Henry Wilson, and to Mr. William H. Seward, denounced 
Brown as "reckless, unreliable and vicious." He approached 

274 Sanborn, 431. 



240 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 

Mr. Wilson in the Senate chamber at Washington and de- 
manded that Brown and his men be disarmed. 

While Forbes caused Brown no end of trouble, the case was 
not nearly so serious as it would have been, if his eastern 
patrons had known what Forbes was talking about. Brown, 
whose "sincerity of purpose was above suspicion," and who 
"was so transparent that all men can see him through," had 
led them, throughout the whole extent of their intercourse, to 
think and believe that his operations were to be undertaken 
solely for the defense of the Free-State settlers in Kansas; 
they knew nothing about his plans for operations in Virginia. 
In the face of this condition of affairs, Forbes could make no 
progress, by means of his threats to make exposures, and was 
immediately discredited; for, as Mr. Douglass said, "Nobody 
believed him although the scoundrel told the truth." He was 
discreet however, in his controversy with Brown and in his 
denunciation of him, in this respect : he was careful not to 
give his troubles publicity, or to do anything that would other- 
wise imperil or wreck the general proposition. 

Forbes did not, at first, comprehend Brown's autocracy in 
the scheme — that he had no associates — and, that while he 
depended upon his generous friends to finance the enterprise, 
he had not taken them into his confidence, but was in reality 
practicing a deception upon them. When the facts of the situa- 
tion finally became apparent to his understanding, he then 
sought to discredit Brown and his plans, and to ingratiate him- 
self with his clientage, so as to supersede him in leadership, and 
in control of any general plan of action, in relation to slavery, 
that might thereafter be agreed upon and undertaken. With 
this purpose in view, Forbes addressed a letter to Dr. Samuel G. 
Howe, May 14, 1858, submitting to him a very weak statement 
of the violent and dangerous things which Brown intended to do, 
for comparison with a statement of the safe and sane things, that, 
in his judgment, could be done ; claiming that he had urged his 



A SOLDIER OF FORTUNE 241 

plan upon Brown, and that he had, at one time, succeeded in 
obtaining Brown's consent thereto ; and that it had been adopted 
by them under the name of "The Well-Matured Plan." Ex- 
tracts from this letter are published by Mr. Villard on pages 
313-314. Forbes, setting up a straw man for the purpose of 
knocking him down, stated that Brown proposed, with from 
twenty-five to fifty colored and white men, well armed and 
taking with them a quantity of spare arms, "to beat up a slave 
quarter in Virginia." To this Forbes offered objections as 
follows: "No preparatory notice having been given to the 
slaves [no notice could go or with prudence be given to them] 
the invitation to rise might, unless they were already in a state 
of agitation, meet with no response or a feeble one." To this 
Brown had replied, that he "was sure of a response." He calcu- 
lated that he could get "on the first night from 200 to 500. Half, 
or thereabouts, of this first lot, he proposed to keep with him, 
amounting to a hundred or so of them, and make a dash at the 
Harper's Ferry manufactory, destroying what he could not 
carry off. The other men, not of this party, were to be sub- 
divided into three, four, or five distinct parties, each under two 
or three of the original band, and would beat up other slave 
quarters whence more men would be sent to join him." "He 
[Brown] argued that were he pressed by the U. S. Troops, 
which, after a few weeks, might concentrate, he could easily 
maintain himself in the Alleghenies and that his New England 
partisans would in the meantime, call a Northern Convention, 
restore tranquility and overthrow the pro-slavery administra- 
tion." This, Forbes contended, could at most be "a mere local 
explosion. A slave insurrection, being from the very nature 
of things deficient in men of education and experience, would 
under such a system as B. proposed, be either a flash in the pan 
or would leap beyond his control, or any control, when it would 
become a scene of anarchy and would assuredly be suppressed." 
On the other hand Brown considered "foreign intervention as 



242 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 

not impossible." As to the dream of a Northern convention, 
Forbes "considered it as a settled fallacy. Brown's New Eng- 
land friends would not have courage to show themselves as long 
as the issue was doubtful," and added: "see my letter to J. B. 
dated 23rd February." 

Since Forbes's letters to Brown deal directly, and without 
dissimulation, with the matters under consideration, it is ex- 
ceedingly regrettable that they have been withheld from pub- 
lication. They would expose the flimsy fictions which have 
been put forth concerning the fictitious company of "volun- 
teer-regulars"; and that Forbes had been employed as a drill- 
master for it. Also, it is especially regrettable that his let- 
ter of February 23d has been suppressed. For there can 
be no doubt that it would disclose their plans for the invasion ; 
the means they relied upon for success, and the broad lines 
which they expected to operate upon. It contained, in all prob- 
ability, a discussion, from Forbes's point of view, of the insur- 
rection ; of armies and conquest ; of government, and relations 
with foreign States; of northern conventions, and of interna- 
tional complications. This correspondence was suppressed, 
doubtless, because the publication of it would dissipate the 
theory that it was an altruistic "Foray into Virginia" that 
Brown had in view, or an illogical guerrilla "raid." 

The passing of Forbes came with an "adroit and stinging" 
reply from Dr. Howe to his letter of May 14th, who, among 
other things said : "I infer from your language that you have 
obtained (in confidence) some information concerning an ex- 
pedition which you think to be commendable, provided you 
could manage it, but which you will betray and denounce if 
he does not give it up ! You are, sir, the guardian of your own 
honor — but I trust that for your children's sake, at least, you 
will never let your passion lead you to a course that might 
make them blush." 275 



275 Mason Report, 176. 



CHAPTER X 

THE PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT 

Fear made the Gods; audacity has made kings. 

— Crebillon 

Before leaving Springdale for the East, Brown forwarded 
the ordnance stores to his son John, at Conneaut, Ohio, who 
carefully concealed them. Proceeding to Rochester, New 
York, he stopped at the home of Mr. Douglass, where he re- 
mained until February 15th. From there he commenced his 
correspondence with the men whom he hoped he could induce 
to advance the necessary money to float, or to initiate, the rev- 
olution ; and it was at the Douglass home that he wrote and 
revised the constitution for the Provisional Government which 
he intended to attempt to set up in the Southern States. Mr. 
Douglass stated to Mr. Sanborn 276 that he had a copy of this 
Constitution in Brown's own hand writing, "prepared by him- 
self at my house." 

February 2d, he wrote to the Rev. Theodore Parker that he 
had nearly perfected arrangements for carrying out an import- 
ant measure in which the "world had a deep interest, as well as 
Kansas," and that he only lacked from five hundred to eight 
hundred dollars to enable him "to do it." Also that it was the 
"same object for which he had asked for secret service money 
last fall" ; that he had written to some of their mutual friends 
concerning the matter but that none of them understood his 
"views as well as you do" ; and that he could not explain them 
without their committing themselves further than he knew of 
their doing, closing with the question, "Do you know some 

276 Sanborn, 434. 



244 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 

parties whom you could induce to give their abolition the- 
ories a thoroughly practical shape ? ... Do you think any 
of my Garrisonian friends at Boston, Worcester, or any other 
place, can be induced to supply a little 'straw' if I will abso- 
lutely make 'bricks' ?" 277 

He wrote letters in a similar vein to Gerrit Smith, to Mr. 
Stearns, to Mr. Sanborn, and to Mr. Higginson, and sought to 
have a meeting with these gentlemen at Mr. Smith's home on 
February 23d, at which he intended to submit to them as much 
of his plans as he thought it advisable for them to know, for their 
consideration and approval. Mr. Sanborn alone responded to 
his call ; he arrived at Peterboro on Monday evening, February 
22d. Brown had arrived there on the preceding Thursday, and 
had gone over the scheme with Mr. Smith. During the night 
of the 22d, Mr. Sanborn says, the whole outline of the cam- 
paign in Virginia was laid before the little council. "In aston- 
ishment and almost in dismay," they listened to the reading of 
the constitution that he had prepared for the government of the 
territory which he proposed to conquer ; and to a recital of the 
details of the hazardous adventure. In the discussion, he ex- 
plained his "plan of organization, of fortification, of occupation, 
and of settlement in the South" and of his "retreat through the 
North," if retreat became necessary. He had foreseen every 
difficulty they could suggest, and had provided for it "in some 
manner." And then he had "God on his side." "If God be 
for us who can be against us." All he asked for, in addition 
to the equipment which he then had, was "but eight hundred 
dollars, and would think himself rich with a thousand." With 
that he would open his campaign in the spring, and he had no 
doubt that the enterprise "would pay" as he said. 278 

The next day Mr. Smith and Mr. Sanborn took up Brown's 

proposition for final consideration and agreed to sustain him 

in it. They reasoned in this way : 

2 " Sanborn, 434. 
278 Sanborn, 439. 



THE PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT 245 

To withhold aid would only delay, not prevent him ; noth- 
ing short of betraying - him to the enemy would do that. Mr. 
Smith restated in his eloquent way the daring propositions 
of Brown, the import of which he understood fully ; and 
then said in substance: "You see how it is; our dear old 
friend has made up his mind to this course and cannot be 
turned from it. We cannot give him up to die alone ; we 
must support him. I will raise so many hundred dollars for 
him ; you must lay the case before your friends in Massachu- 
setts, and perhaps they will do the same. I see no other 
way." 279 For myself I had reached the same conclusion, and 
engaged to bring the scheme at once to the attention of the 
three Massachusetts men to whom Brown had written, and 
also to Dr. S. G. Howe, who had sometimes favored action 
almost as extreme as this proposed by Brown. 

As to Mr. Smith, he had approved of Colonel Forbes, to 
whom he gave one hundred and fifty dollars, and thought that 
he would "make himself very useful in our sacred Kansas 
work." He approved of Brown's "effort to seduce the soldiers 
of the Union" and thought his tract, "The Duty of the Soldier,'' 
very well written. After his declaration to Thaddeus Hyatt : 280 
"We must not shrink from fighting for Liberty — & if the 
Federal troops fight against her we must fight against them," 
he had not far to go to approve of the insurrection and in- 
vasion which Brown now contemplated. 

The outcome of the Peterboro conference was satisfactory. 
Brown skillfully put his public affairs in the hands of a com- 
mittee — a war committee, composed of friends who, he had 
reason to believe, would finance his adventure. He therefore 
directed his energies to the task of strengthening his organiza- 
tion for the work before him. Among those whom he sought 
to enlist under his banner was Mr. Sanborn. To him he wrote 
from Peterboro February 24th : 281 

2 " Sanborn, 439. 

280 Villard, 287. 

28i Sanborn, 444-445. 



246 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 

My dear Friend: Mr. Morton 282 has taken the liberty of 
saying to me that you felt half inclined to make a common 
cause with me. I greatly rejoiced for I believe when you 
come to look at the ample field I labor in, and the rich harvest 
which not only this entire country but the whole world dur- 
ing the present and future generations may reap from its 
successful cultivation, you will feel that you are out of your 
element until you find that you are in it, an entire unit. What 
an inconceivable amount of good you might so effect by your 
counsel, your example, your encouragement, your natural 
and acquired ability for active service ! And then how very 
little we can possibly lose! Certainly the cause is enough 
to live for, if not to — for. I have only had this one oppor- 
tunity, in a life of nearly sixty years ; and could I be con- 
tinued ten times as long again, I might not have again an 
equal opportunity. God has honored but comparatively a 
very small part of mankind with any possible chance for such 
mighty and soul satisfying rewards. But my dear friend if 
you should make up your mind to do so, I trust it will be 
wholly from the prompting of your own spirit after you have 
thoroughly counted the cost. I would flatter no man into 
such a measure, if I could do so ever so easily. 

I expect nothing but to "endure hardness" ; but I expect to 
effect a mighty conquest, even though it be like the last 
victory of Samson. I felt for a number of years in earlier 
life, a steady, strong desire to die ; but since I saw any pros- 
pect of becoming a reaper in the great harvest, I have not 
only felt quite willing to live, but have enjoyed life much ; 
and am now rather anxious to live for a few years more. 
It is inconsistent with the tenor of this letter, to draw from 
it the conclusion that the "mighty conquest" was a profitless 
"foray," or a "raid," that Brown thus invited Mr. Sanborn to 
engage in ; nor did the latter so understand it. On the contrary 
he took the proposal seriously, and was deeply impressed with 

282 Mr. Morton was Mr. Smith's secretary. He and Mr. Sanborn had 
been classmates at Harvard. 



. THE PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT 247 

the broad significance of the undertaking herein dimly fore- 
shadowed. Commenting thereon he, consistently, said : 

Till I follow my noble friend to the other world, on which 
his hopes were fixed, I can never read this letter without 
emotion. Yet it did not persuade me to comply with his 
wish. Long accustomed to guide my life by leadings and 
omens from that shrine whose oracles may destroy but can 
never deceive, I listened in vain, through months of doubt 
and anxiety, for a clear and certain call. But it was re- 
vealed to me that no confidence could be too great, no trust 
or affection too extreme toward this aged, poor man whom 
the Lord had chosen as his champion. 

One might venture to suggest, in this connection, that Mr. 
Sanborn's failure to catch any note of a "clear and certain call" 
during his months of doubt and anxiety, might be due, possibly, 
to facts or conditions existing in the Omnipotent economy. 
God, "whose mercy endureth forever," may not have desired 
that a "generation should pass off the face of the earth," at that 
time, "by a violent death." Also, the absence of any evidence 
of the Divine approval of Brown's scheme, raises a question of 
doubt, that the Lord had really appointed "this aged poor man 
as his chosen champion." While, on the other hand, the la- 
mentable failure of the expedition undertaken in the accom- 
plishment of this enterprise ; and the overwhelming wreck and 
ruin of those who engaged in it, point to the theory that God, if 
he took any active participation in the matter at all, was opposed 
to Brown — that he was on the other side — on the side of the 
generation of men, women, and children, who, trusting in His 
mercy, lived in innocent ignorance of Brown's plot to destroy 
them. 

Leaving Peterboro on the 24th, Brown began a tour among 
the colored people to unite them in support of his campaign. 
February 26th, to March 3d, he was at Brooklyn at the home 
of Dr. and Mrs. J. N. Gloucester, wealthy colored people, and 



248 . JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 

sought their assistance. From Brooklyn he went to Boston. 
From there, March 4th, he wrote to his son John : 283 "As it 
may require some time to hunt out friends at Bedford, Cham- 
bersburg, Gettysburg, Hagerstown, Md. or even Harper's Ferry, 
Va., I would like to have you arrange your business so as to set 
out very soon." March 6th, he was again at Boston, and on the 
15th, at Philadelphia again, where he met Rev. Stephen Smith, 
Frederick Douglass, Rev. Henry H. Garnett, William Sill, and 
other colored men. His son John met him there by appoint- 
ment and thence they went to New York, New Haven, and 
to North Elba, where they arrived March 23d. April 2d, they 
were at Peterboro for consultation with Gerrit Smith, and from 
there they went to Rochester, where they separated. From 
Rochester, Brown went to St. Catherine, Canada, in company 
with a colored man — J. W. Loguen — where they met, by 
appointment, Mrs. Harriet Tubman, colored, known as the 
"Moses of her People." Brown was cordially received by the 
Canadian negroes. They listened to his statement of the things 
that he intended to do for their race, and gave him encourage- 
ment to believe that many of them would enter his service. 

Believing the money which had been pledged would be 
promptly furnished, Brown launched his enterprise, and called 
a constitutional convention to meet at Chatham, Canada, to 
formally adopt a "Provisional Constitution and Ordinances, for 
the people of the United States." He then proceeded to Spring- 
dale to report the situation to his captains. 

The war party left Springdale April 27th, and arrived at 
Chatham on the 29th, Brown stopping at the home of James M. 
Bell, a colored man. Notices calling the convention were imme- 
diately sent out : the form, as drawn by Cook, was as follows : 

Chatham, May — 1859. 
Mr. . ; Dear Sir: — We have issued a call for a 

very quiet Convention at this place, to which we shall be very 

2S3 Sanborn, 451. 



THE PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT 249 

happy to see any true friends of freedom and to which you 
are most earnestly invited to give your attendance. 

Yours respectfully, John Brown. 

The convention was represented, at Chatham, as being a meet- 
ing for the purpose of organizing a Masonic (colored) lodge; it 
met May 8th, at 10 o'clock a. m. Only Brown's party and thir- 
ty-four colored men were present. Richard Realf, in his testi- 
mony before the Mason Committee, said that Brown opened the 
convention with an explanation of the purposes for which it had 
been called. That he spoke of the manner in which he had 
qualified himself for leadership — by a tour of the European 
continent, inspecting all fortifications, especially all earthwork 
forts, that he could find, intending to apply such knowledge, with 
modifications and inventions of his own, to the warfare he now 
proposed to undertake. "He spoke of his studies of Roman 
warfare, and of Schamyal the Circassian chief, and of his knowl- 
edge of conditions in Hayti, and of Toussaint L'Ouverture." 
He said that he expected all the free negroes in the Northern 
States to flock to his standard, as well as the negroes of the 
Southern States. Mr. Realf further stated that "no salaries 
were to be paid to the officers" under this constitution. That 
it was "purely out of that which we supposed to be philanthropy 
— love for the slave." 284 

After the address Brown produced a copy of the "Provisional 
Constitution." The articles were read and adopted unanimous- 
ly. Each person present then signed the constitution, and swore 
allegiance to the Provisional Government. 285 The nature and 
purposes of Brown's invasion of Virginia, in October, 1859, are 
disclosed in the forty-eight articles contained in this remarkable 
historical document. 286 

At a meeting held in the evening, John Brown was elected 
commander-in-chief and John H. Kagi, secretary of war. The 

284 Mason Report, 96. 

285 Redpath, 251. 

28 « Mason Report, 48. See Appendix III. 



250 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 

balloting for offices was continued on Monday, May 10th, and 
Richard Realf was elected secretary of state, George B. Gill, 
secretary of the treasury, Owen Brown, treasurer, and Osborn 
P. Anderson and Alfred M. Ellsworth, colored, were elected 
members of Congress. 

Article I, of the constitution, provides for qualification of 
membership, and includes "all persons of mature age whether 
proscribed, oppressed, and enslaved citizens, or of proscribed 
and oppressed races of the United States, who shall agree to 
sustain and enforce the Provisional Constitution and ordinances 
of organization, together with all minor children of such per- 
sons, shall be held to be fully entitled to protection under the 
same." Articles II, III, IV, and V relate to the branches of 
government : Legislative, executive and judicial. A num- 
ber of articles relate to the trial of officers, impeachment, or 
recall of judges, army appointments, etc., etc. Article XXVIII 
treats of "Property." It recites that "All captured or confiscat- 
ed property, and all property the product of the labor of those 
belonging to this organization and of their families, shall be 
held as the property of the whole, equally, without distinction 
and may be used for the common benefit, or disposed of for the 
same object." Article XXXVI is especially instructive. It 
reads as follows : 

"The entire personal and real property of all persons known 
to be acting, either directly or indirectly, with or for the enemy, 
or found in arms with them, or found willfully holding slaves, 
shall be confiscated and taken whenever and wherever it may be 
found, in either Free or Slave States." 

Mr. Sanborn says this constitution will be found "well suited 
to its purpose — the government of a territory in revolt, of 
which the chief occupants should be escaped slaves," an opinion 
which assumes that the white population had, in some manner, 
been eliminated from the "territory in revolt." 

The plan of government was written by Brown, and was 



THE PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT 251 

adopted in a solemn manner by sane men, who signed it; and 
copies of this Constitution and Ordinances, Brown took with him 
to Harper's Ferry ; and on the 18th of October, 1859, personally 
referred to it as an exhibit of his purposes for being there ; and 
stated that it had been his intention to have a large number of 
copies of it printed, and distributed "at large," so that all might 
know the character of his invasion. And yet, after the lapse 
of fifty years, conies an oracular disquisitor, who, with an 
assurance de luxe, asserts that Brown and his followers did not 
intend to establish a Provisional Government in the South, or 
to do any of the things provided for in this infallible utterance ; 
that his invasion of Virginia was not an invasion, but a "raid" 
to carry off some slaves, which, if successful, would be followed 
by further guerrilla warfare in the mountains of Virginia. 

Referring, with undisguised impatience, to the irrelation of 
the "Constitution and Ordinances" to his conception of what 
Brown's purposes were, or to what he desires the historian to 
declare Brown's purposes to have been, he says, that "it actually 
contemplates not merely the government of forces in armed 
insurrection against sovereign States," but that it "actually 
goes so far as to establish courts, a regular judiciary and a 
Congress." And, "as if that were not enough it provides 
for" such heresies in guerrilla warfare as "schools for that 
same training of the freed slaves in manual labor which is to-day 
so widely hailed as the readiest solution of the negro problem. 
Churches too were to be 'established as soon as may be' — as if 
anything could be more inconsistent with his fundamental plan" ; 
which Mr. Villard then magisterially states was to "break his 
forces up into small bands hidden in mountain fastnesses, sub- 
sisting as well as possible off the land, and probably unable to 
communicate with each other. At this and at other points," 
he says, "the whole scheme forbids discussion as a practical 
plan of government for such an uprising as was to be carried 
out by a handful of whites and droves of utterly illiterate and 



252 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 

ignorant blacks, and may stand as a chief indictment of Brown's 
saneness of judgment and of his reasoning powers" ; admitting 
however, that "as a chart for the course of a State about to 
secede from the Union and to maintain itself during a regular 
revolution, the document was also not without its admirable 
features." 

Commenting upon the condition of Brown's mind at the time 
he wrote this paper, Mr. Villard says that it was "fanatical, con- 
centrated on one idea to the danger point, but still it remained a 
mind capable of expressing itself with rare clearness and force, 
focussing itself with intense vigor on the business in hand and 
going straight to the end in view." 287 

The preceding clause is in itself a refutation of the author's 
criticism. If it be true that when Brown drew up this paper 
"his mind was capable of expressing itself with clearness, focus- 
sing itself with vigor on the business in hand and of going 
straight to the end in view," then it must be admitted that the 
document which he penned was not intended to serve a purpose 
so trifling as a raid, but that it was what it purported to be — a 
form of government or charter for a state during a period of 
revolution. 

It will be observed that it is not the practicability of a revolu- 
tion, such as the provisions of this document would be consistent 
with, that constitutes the indictment of Brown's saneness and 
reasoning powers ; but the fact that the provisions of the con- 
stitution are inconsistent with this author's invention of what 
Brown's plans were : "A plan of government for small forces 
of whites and runaway slaves acting separately as guerrilla 
bands in mountain fastnesses." It is strictly true that the pro- 
visions of the constitution are so inconsistent with this fiction as 
to forbid discussion ; but that fact should not constitute an in- 
dictment of Brown's sanity. It merely emphasizes the fact that 
there is disagreement between John Brown and his biographer 

™ Villard, 335-336. 



THE PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT 253 

of fifty years after, concerning the purpose for which Brown 
wrote the provisional constitution and ordinances, and sug- 
gests, as a bare possibility of the case, that the assumptions of the 
biographer as to what that purpose was may be inconsistent with 
the tenor of the constitution. If this biographer had been less 
eager to confirm in history the theory that it was a foray or a 
raid that Brown sought to execute at Harper's Ferry, he would 
have discovered that Brown intended to organize a thorough- 
going army there, 288 instead of sporadic guerrilla bands ; and 
that he intended to extend the jurisdiction of this Provisional 
Government over the State of Virginia and the South. 

It was Brown's intention to begin his campaign at once. May 
15th being the date named; and something, probably, would 
have happened if he had received the one thousand dollars 
promptly, that had been pledged in his support. Realf, on his 
arrival at Chatham, wrote that they would remain there until 
they had perfected their plans, "which will be in about ten days 
or two weeks," after which they would "start for China." 289 
Cook also had something to say. He wrote to some young 
ladies at Springdale : 

. . . I long for the 10th of May to come. I am anxious 
to leave this place, to have my mind occupied with the 
great work of our mission. . . Through the dark gloom 
of the future, I fancy I can almost see the dawning of light 
of Freedom. . . That I can almost hear the swelling An- 
them of Liberty rising from the millions who have but just 
cast aside the fetters and the shackles that bound them. But 
ere that day arrives, I fear that we shall hear the crash of the 
battle shock and see the red gleaming of the cannon's light- 
ning. 290 

The seance closed abruptly on the 10th, owing to a collapse of 
the exchequer; whereupon the cabinet officials and officers of 

28S Mason Report, 59-60. 

2 8 9 Villard. 330. 

290 Ibid. 



254 JOHN BROWN: A CRITIQUE 

the general staff were furloughed, without pay, until such time 
as they would be called upon to report to the commander-in- 
chief for service. They went to Cleveland, Ohio, and it is 
said that some of them chafed under the hardships and incon- 
veniences of earning a living; with the result that a spasm of 
"philanthropy and love for the slave" became imminent among 
them. So pronounced were the symptoms that the honorable 
secretary of state, Mr. Realf, on May 23d, in an official note to 
the commander-in-chief, declared that unless "relief" were pro- 
vided speedily, those affected might be so inspired by philan- 
thropy and love for the slave as to "go South and raid by them- 
selves." 291 

The failure to finance the Provisional Government was a re- 
sult of a flurry on the bourse, that had its origin in the activities 
of Colonel Forbes. He was threatening the rear of Brown's 
communications. About the last of April, he wrote from Wash- 
ington to Mr. Sanborn and to Dr. Howe, declaring his inten- 
tion to give publicity to Brown's scheme. A "hurry call" was 
accordingly sent out for a meeting of the war committee. At 
a conference. May 2d, Mr. Parker and Mr. Steams thought "the 
plan" should be "deferred till another year." Dr. Howe thought 
differently, while Mr. Sanborn, whose mind was not working 
forcefully, was in a state of doubt, which he expressed, May 5th, 
in a letter to Mr. Higginson. 292 Gerrit Smith voted with 
Steams and Parker. He wrote May 7th : "It seems to me 
that in these circumstances Brown must go no further; and I so 
write him." 293 May 9th, Higginson voted with Howe. He 
wrote : "I regard any postponement as simply abandoning the 
project." A letter of the 9th from Hon. Henry Wilson to Dr. 
Howe, settled the question. He went into the matter a little 
deeper, and suggested that their actions might involve others. 
He pointed out that if the arms in Brown's possession were 

291 Sanborn, 470; also Villard. 338. 

292 Sanborn, 458. 

293 Ibid. 



THE PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT 255 

used for any other purpose than to "arm some force in Kansas 
for defense, it might be of disadvantage to the men who were 
induced to contribute to that very foolish movement" ; and ad- 
vised them to "get the arms out of Brown's control, and keep 
clear of him, at least for the present." 294 To this letter Dr. 
Howe replied on the 12th : 

I understand perfectly your meaning. No countenance 
has been given Brown for any operations outside of Kansas 
by the Kansas Committee. I had occasion a few days ago to 
send him an earnest message from his friends here, urging 
him at once to go to Kansas and take part in the coming 
election, and throw the weight of his influence upon the side 
of right. . . There is in Washington a disappointed and 
malicious man working with all the activity which hate and 
revenge can inspire to harm Brown, and to cast odium upon 
the friends of Kansas in Massachusetts. You probably 
know him. He has been to see Mr. Seward. Mr. Hale 
also can tell you something about him. God speed the 
right. 295 

May 15th, he wrote Mr. Wilson, relating to the arms, that 
"prompt measures have been taken and will be resolutely fol- 
lowed up to prevent any such monstrous perversion of a trust 
as would be the application of means raised for the defense of 
Kansas, to a purpose which the subscribers of the fund would 
disapprove and violently condemn." 296 

Because of these letters Dr. Howe has been severely criticised ; 
and by Rear Admiral Chadwick unjustly charged with "gross 
prevarication." 297 But, in a time of war, would the distin- 
guished admiral hesitate to deceive the enemy in a similar man- 
ner ? The things which the Doctor said were, of course, untrue, 
but in saying them he did not intend to wrong the Senator or to 
deceive him to his disadvantage. The correspondence was not 

294 Mason Report, 176. 

295 ibid. 
29 « Ibid. 

297 Rear Admiral Chadwick, Causes of the Civil War, 75-76. 



256 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 

personal ; Senator Wilson was an intermediary, or a medium of 
communication between Colonel Forbes and Brown's war com- 
mittee. Howe, acting for the committee, had the right to de- 
ceive the enemy — Forbes — in this manner. The letters he 
wrote were a stratagem of the war it was promoting. Brown 
would have disposed of Forbes in a more heroic manner. He 
wrote from Chatham: "We have those who are thoroughly 
posted up" (professional assassins) "to put upon his track and 
we beg to be allowed to do so." 298 

On May 14th, Mr. Stearns wrote to Brown enclosing a copy 
of Senator Wilson's letter, also notifying him officially, as 
chairman of the Massachusetts State Kansas Committee, that 
the arms in his care belonging to the committee must not be 
used for any other purpose than for the defense of Kansas. 299 
He then forestalled any possibility of future complication re- 
lating to the arms by foreclosing a lien, which he is said to have 
held, on all the property of the committee ; and having thus ob- 
tained the title to the arms, he placed them in Brown's posses- 
sion as his personal agent. By this arrangement, Mr. Sanborn 
says, 

The business of the Kansas Committee was put in such 
shape that its responsibility for the arms in Brown's pos- 
session should no longer fetter his friends in aiding his main 
design. 

But as to the character of the transaction he was not quite 
assured. "It is still a little difficult," he said, "to explain this 
transaction without leaving a suspicion that there was some- 
where a breach of trust." It was also agreed between them 
that Brown should not further inform the members of the war 
committee of his plans in detail, nor "burden them with knowl- 
edge that would be to them both needless and inconvenient." 30 ° 
May 15th, Mr. Stearns wrote to Brown asking him to come to 

298 Sanborn, 456. 

™ Mason Report, 231. 

300 Sanborn. 465-466. 



THE PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT 257 

New York during the next week for consultation ; but for rea- 
sons that have not been stated the meeting did not take place ; 
it was probably called off because arrangements were made for 
a more interesting function. 

Then as now, there was a Peace Society in existence. Mr. 
Gerrit Smith was coming to Boston to deliver an address at its 
anniversary; and it was decided to take advantage of his pres- 
ence in the city, to have a full meeting of the secret war com- 
mittee which, Mr. Sanborn says, had been organized in March, 
and consisted of Gerrit Smith, Theodore Parker, Doctor Howe, 
T. W. Higginson, George L. Steams, and himself. Mr. Smith 
arrived and took lodgings at the Revere House. The commit- 
tee held its meeting, at his. rooms, on the 24th of May. At this 
council it was finally decided to postpone the campaign until the 
winter or spring of 1859, when the committee would raise for 
Brown "two or three thousand dollars." 301 

Mr. Smith, because of his great zeal in the promotion of 
peace, had the honor of being chosen to deliver the address at 
the anniversary of the Peace Society, and, because of a similar 
zeal in the promotion of war, he had the honor of being chosen 
to preside, as chairman, over the Revere House deliberations of 
the war committee. It may be assumed, because of his versa- 
tility, that he acquitted himself creditably in both of these posi- 
tions. 

The impossibility of harmonizing the public professions of 
these apostles of peace, with their secret undertakings as min- 
isters of war, discourages analyzation of their philosophy; and 
for the same reason, discussion of questions of moral obliquity, 
or of commercial irregularity in their actions or in the actions of 
any of them, in juggling with the liability for Brown's war 
equipment, and in financing an assault upon a State of this 
Union, may be dismissed as being without profit. 

May 31st, Brown returned to Boston full of regret because of 

301 Sanborn, 464. 



258 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 

the postponement of the invasion; but with the arms securely 
in his possession and with the $500 in gold in his pockets, which 
his committee gave him as a salve to soothe his wounded hope ; 
and with the decision of the Revere House council to raise "two 
or three thousand dollars" for his campaign the next spring, 
his spirits rose, and he left Boston for North Elba well satisfied 
with the outcome of the flurry. 

June 20th, he went to Cleveland and disposed of the staff, di- 
viding with them the $500, and making such arrangements for 
them as circumstances permitted. Cook was sent to Harper's 
Ferry, to reconnoiter the field, and obtain statistics and other in- 
formation. It is also probable that Brown would have joined 
him and begun the work of agitating the slaves for the coming 
revolt, if the news from Kansas had not offered an opportunity 
for "other occupations." The "disturbances" there, culmin- 
ating in the tragedy on the Marias des Cygnes, May 19th, ap- 
pealed to him with irresistible force. They "were the immedi- 
ate cause of his return to Kansas." 302 



302 Redpath, 237. 



CHAPTER XI 

THE SHUBEL MORGAN PLUNDER COMPANY 

The angel wings were so dim and shadowy as to be scarce- 
ly visible. — George B. Gill 

In company with Kagi and Tidd, Brown arrived at Lawrence 
on the night of June 27th, and, under the name of "Shubel Mor- 
gan" left the next day for the zone of opportunity. The polit- 
ical situation in Kansas, or the progress which the Free-State 
cause was making at that time, was no part of his concern ; and 
to so much as mention his name in connection therewith, is to 
trifle with history. Writing to Mr. Sanborn from Lawrence on 
the 28th, announcing his arrival in the Territory, he sent a quick 
delivery order for some whistles. He said : 303 

. . . Can you send me by Express ; Care of E. B. Whit- 
man, Esqr. half a Doz ; or a full Doz whistles such as I de- 
scribed? at once? 

The above is the sole reference to Territorial affairs contained 
in this letter ; it may therefore be regarded as an epitome of his 
interest therein ; it is also an index to the character of the opera- 
tions he intended to engage in. 

On July 9th, he wrote to his son John that he was now in the 
log cabin of the "notorious James Montgomery" whom he 
deemed a very "brave and talented officer." Montgomery was 
the author of the recrudescence, in Linn and Bourbon counties, 
of the lawlessness of 1856. Disapproving of the election, Jan- 
uary 4, 1858, under the Lecompton Constitution, he destroyed 
the ballot boxes in his district. His political relations with the 
pro-slavery settlers in Linn County becoming strained, he served 
3°3Villard, 353. 

17 



260 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 

notice on them to leave the Territory, and compelled them to 
seek refuge in Missouri. A troop of cavalry being sent to ar- 
rest him, he, with seven others, opened fire upon it from the 
timber, killing one enlisted man and wounding the captain — 
George T. Anderson, First United States Cavalry — and two 
others. 

While the Free-State men greatly admired Montgomery's 
prowess, they balked at the retaliatory operations his actions 
provoked. The deliberate killing of five Free-State men and 
the wounding of five more on the Marias des Cygnes May 19th, 
by Charles A. Hamilton, caused them to reflect, seriously, upon 
the situation. Even if Montgomery had succeeded in burning 
Fort Scott, in retaliation for these murders, it could not have 
brought the dead back to life. The settlers therefore, re- 
gardless of political sentiment, united in an effort to tran- 
quilize matters. Governor Denver appeared upon the scene in 
company with Charles Robinson and Judge J. W. Wright, in 
an earnest effort to secure a general pacification. June 14th, at 
a mass-meeting held at Fort Scott, a treaty of peace was nego- 
tiated. It was called the Denver Treaty. It provided that "by- 
gones should be by-gones" as far as possible ; that the Federal 
troops at Fort Scott should be removed ; that militia should be 
stationed along the border, to prevent further invasions from 
Missouri ; and that all other armed companies should withdraw 
from the field. "This compact was religiously adhered to dur- 
ing the summer and fall." 30 * 

Brown found upon his arrival in the recently distracted dis- 
trict that the Free-State settlers desired peace, and had so pub- 
licly declared, and that in response to their wishes Montgomery 
had disbanded his band of raiders. But with the Free-State 
settlers' wishes, and with their material and political welfare 
Brown had no concern. His interests were distinct from theirs. 
He came not to serve them, nor to serve the Free-State cause, but 

30 *Vilard, 349. 



SHUBEL MORGAN PLUNDER COMPANY 261 

to use them and the Free-State sentiment, as a shield to protect 
him from violence while in pursuit of the criminal operations 
in which he intended to engage. It was a continuation of the 
graft, upon the Free-State cause, which he was professionally 
working. Stealthily and in disguise he came into this settle- 
ment, and by stealth he proceeded to execute the purposes for 
which he came. 

Disregarding the settlers' peace treaty and Montgomery's 
example, Brown proceeded to organize a company, or pre- 
tended that he organized one, and drew up a paper entitled 
"Articles of Agreement" for Shubel Morgan's Company. 
However, in view of the character of some of the men whose 
names appear upon the roll of its membership, and because of 
the nature of the business which Brown actually engaged in 
thereafter, as well as the personality of the men whom he really 
directed, it probably was merely a paper organization gotten up 
for the delectation of his Eastern friends, male and female. 
The articles are as follows : 

We, the undersigned members of Shubel Morgan's Com- 
pany, hereby agree to be governed by the following Rules : 

1. A gentlemanly and respectful deportment shall at all 
times and places be maintained toward all persons ; and all 
profane or indecent language shall be avoided in all cases. 

2. No intoxicating drinks shall be used as a beverage by 
any member or be suffered in camp for such purpose. 

3. No member shall leave camp without leave of the 
Commander. 

4. All property captured in any manner shall be subjected 
to equal distribution among the members. 

5. All acts of petty or other thefts shall be promptly and 
properly punished, and restitution made as far as possible. 

6. All members shall, so far as able, contribute equally to 
all necessary labor in or out of camp. 

7. All prisoners who shall properly demean themselves 
shall be treated with kindness and respect, and shall be pun- 



262 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 

ished for crime only after trial and conviction, being allowed 
a hearing in defense. 

8. Implicit obedience shall be yielded to all proper orders 
of the commander or other superior officer. 

9. All arms, ammunition, etc., not strictly private proper- 
ty shall ever be subject to, and delivered up, on the order of 
the commander. 

Names 

Shubel Morgan 

C. P. Tidd 

J. H. Kagi 

A. Wattles 

Samuelson Stevenson 

J. Montgomery 

T. Homyr 

Simon Snyder 

E. W. Snyder 

Elias Snyder 

John H. Snyder 

Adam Bishop 

William Hairgrove 

John Mikel 

William Partridge 
After his arrival, Brown spent some time upon the tract of 
land upon which the Hamilton massacre had taken place. It 
belonged to Mr. Eli Snyder, a blacksmith, and Brown entered 
into negotiations with him to purchase his claim to it. Nothing 
came of the dealings, and it is not probable that Brown was 
very much in earnest upon the subject. While he remained 
with Snyder he made a reconnoissance into Missouri for the 
purpose of obtaining information that would be of use to him 
in his planning for future operations. 305 

In the meantime, Stevens and Gill reported for duty. The 
following named persons then comprised his band : Kagi, 
Tidd, Owen Brown, Gill, and Stevens ; Albert Hazlett and Jere- 
miah G. Anderson joined later, 
ace Villard, 357. 



Date 


1858 


July 


12 


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12 


« 


12 


t( 


12 


n 


12 


a 


12 


n 


12 


a 


14 


it 


15 


a 


15 


a 


15 


a 


15 


a 


15 


u 


15 


a 


15 



SHUBEL MORGAN PLUNDER COMPANY 263 

Just what Brown and his captains did during the first five 
months of their sojourn in the Territory has not been made pub- 
lice. Many pages of very irrelevant matter, containing 
very few facts, have been put forth upon the subject; but from 
the scraps of evidence occurring in the garbled accounts that 
have been published concerning their doings, they seem to have 
been engaged in stealing horses; but no big robbery was under- 
taken until in December. 

On July 20th, Brown began a letter to Mr. Sanborn which he 
completed August 6th, in which he said 308 that they would soon 
be in want of a small amount of money "to feed us. We can- 
not," he said, " work for wages', & provisions are not easily ob- 
tained on the frontier." He also gave out the information 
that a portion of his men were "in other neighborhoods." In 
response to this request for money, Mr. Sanborn, on August 
25th, sent him Gerrit Smith's check for fifty dollars. This 
check Brown enclosed to his wife, endorsed to Watson Brown, 
in a letter to her September 17th. 307 Because Brown returned 
this money to the East, it may be inferred that the urgency for 
money had been tided over; that the crisis had passed by the 
time Mr. Sanborn's letter with the check arrived ; that money 
had been received from some other source, and that he did not 
need it then, "to feed us." It is also noticeable that his men, 
who were "in other neighborhoods," and could "not work for 
wages," managed to obtain a sufficient amount of money to 
supply their personal needs in some other way. The exact 
character of these pursuits has not been stated, but the condi- 
tions under which they acquired their living have been made 
public, in an incidental way, and they were by no means ideal. 
They seem to have worked the Territory in pairs. Mr. Gill, 
speaking for himself and Mr. Kagi, said, 308 equivocally: 
"Sometimes one had the ague, sometimes both. Sometimes 

30 «Villard, 354. 
307 Sanborn, 478. 
»»» Villard, 363. 



264 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 

we fished, sometimes we had our supper and beds; at other 
times we went supperless and took the prairie for our bed with 
the blue arch for our covering." 

It would perhaps be called harshness to say, at this time, that 
John Brown and his men were a band of horse thieves, al- 
though Mr. Villard does say that one of them, "Pickles, was a 
well known horse thief ;" and it has been more than intimated, 
within the writer's hearing, that Charles Jennison, who joined 
the band temporarily, while indulging a penchant for horses 
generally, was neither solicitous about his title to them, nor 
about the manner of getting possession of them. As a story 
tells it, one of the "psalms" sung by these humanitarians had 
special reference to Jennison ; it ran in this way : 

Am I soldier of the boss — 
A follower of Jim Lane? 

And shall I fear to steal a hoss 
Or blush to ride the same? 

We are also told that Mr. Albert Hazlett "picked up a fine 
stallion down in Missouri." 309 And Mr. Gill, in a letter to 
Colonel Hinton, 310 speaks of a trip which he and Brown were 
on during several days, but does not state the nature of their 
adventures. Brown was ill a part of the summer ; and for sev- 
eral weeks was seriously so, in the home of Mr. Adair at Osa- 
watomie, where he was cared for by the faithful Kagi. The 
latter wrote to his sister that he was compelled to "lay off" at 
Osawatomie, for a month, on account of this. He laid off 
from "fishing," and from sleeping on the prairie, with the "blue 
arch for a covering." It seems, however, that before Brown 
was taken ill, he had been doing some of this speculative or 
professional business himself; in fact he attributed his illness 
to the exposure which he had been subjected to, while engaged 
in it, whatever it may have been — "fishing" or other employ- 
ment. He related to Mr. Sanborn, in his letter of July 20th- 

309 Villard, 634, note 98. 

310 Ante, note 156. 



SHUBEL MORGAN PLUNDER COMPANY 265 

August 6th : "Have been down with ague since last date, and 
had no safe way to get off my letter. I had lain every night 
without shelter, suffering from cold rains and heavy dews, to- 
gether with the oppressive heat of the day." It appears, from 
this statement, that Brown also had had engagements in other 
neighborhoods, for, in his own neighborhood, "deserted farms 
and dwellings lay in all directions for some miles," 311 and he 
could easily have taken shelter in some of them. It is evident, 
too, that wherever he may have been, his circumstances were 
such that he could not call upon the settlers, in such neighbor- 
hoods, and ask for shelter and accept from them such hospital- 
ity and entertainment as settlers are wont to give, or he would 
have done so. His condition seems to have been similar to the 
condition which horse thieves are in, when they have stolen 
horses in their possession : they cannot safely ask for shelter and 
other entertainment and have to lie out at night, and suffer 
from cold rains, if there happen to be any, and from heavy dews. 
It is to be regretted that Brown's later biographer did not 
secure from Salmon Brown a statement concerning the doings 
of Brown and his captains, while they were operating in Kan- 
sas. It transpired, however, that Brown encouraged horse 
stealing by his subordinates. Reference has been made to the 
fine stallion which Hazlett had "picked up" down in Missouri. 
Mr. Gill, in his narrative about this matter, states that Brown 
bought this fine horse from Hazlett ; giving him, in exchange 
for it, a United States land warrant for forty acres of land, 
that had been donated to Brown by Gerrit Smith ; and that he 
afterward sold the horse, by auction, at Cleveland. 

After recovering from his illness, Brown made a number of 
trips to Lawrence, where he had some controversy with the 
Natonal Kansas Committee, for which he assumed to act as 
agent ; not only without authority from it to do so, but in op- 
position to its expressed wishes. The committee, through its 
agent, Mr. E. B. Whitman, at Lawrence, had made advances, 

3u Villard. 354. 



266 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 

for necessary supplies, to many Kansas settlers, taking their 
notes for account of the same. Some of these notes had been 
given to Mr. Steams, as security for money which he had ad- 
vanced to the committee, and Steams had given them to Brown, 
or sent them to him, for collection. It appears that the notes 
had not been endorsed and made payable to Mr. Stearns, and 
that the ownership of them was still in the committee. But 
Brown, when surrendering the notes to the makers, upon pay- 
ment to him, cured that defect and extinguished the commit- 
tee's title by acknowledging payment to him, as its agent. Octo- 
ber 26th, Mr. H. B. Hurd repudiated Brown's agency in a letter 
to Mr. Whitman. He said: "Capt. John Brown has no au- 
thority to take, receive, collect or transfer any notes or accounts 
belonging to the National Kansas Committee, nor ever has had, 
nor will such dealings be recognized or sanctioned by our com- 
mittee." 312 Of course, Brown kept the money he thus col- 
lected. He had an offset against the committee. He claimed 
that it owed him five thousand dollars. Under its resolution 
of January 24, 1857, it had 'Voted $5000 in aid of Capt. John 
Brown in any defensive measures that become necessary" in 
Kansas. Brown was then engaged in "defensive" measures or 
operations, as has been related, and from his point of view he 
had earned the right to claim this money. 

During the latter part of October, Montgomery again made 
things interesting for his neighborhood. Alleging violation 
of the Denver Peace Treaty, he entered the court-house at Fort 
Scott, while the grand jury was in session, took possession of 
the papers it was considering, destroyed them, and compelled 
it to adjourn. On the night of October 30th, a very weak at- 
tempt, or an alleged attempt, was made to assassinate Mont- 
gomery ; a party, supposed to be pro-slavery men firing a volley 
into his cabin. Because of this it was decided to fortify it ; Gill, 
Tidd, and Stevens doing most of the work, Brown "indulging 

3 i 2 Villard, 360. 



SHUBEL MORGAN PLUNDER COMPANY 267 

in his favorite occupation of cooking." 313 The incident may 
have been a ruse-de-guerre. Having heard that he had been 
indicted by a pro-slavery jury, at Paris, for the ballot-box af- 
fair in January, Montgomery, on November 13th, went there 
with a party and made an unsuccessful search for the records. 
He invited Brown to join him. The latter did so, but remained 
"on the outskirts of the town" while the searching was being 
done. After this adventure, Acting Governor Walsh wrote the 
department suggesting that a reward of $300 and $500 be 
offered respectively, for the arrest of Montgomery and Brown ; 
such a reward, he thought, "would either effect their arrest or 
drive them from the Territory." 314 

On December 6th, a joint meeting of Free-State and pro- 
slavery men was held at Sugar Mound, in Linn County, to adopt 
a peace agreement to replace the Denver Treaty, which the 
Free-State men claimed had been violated by the court pro- 
ceedings against Montgomery; the attack upon his life on the 
night of October 30th. etc. The resolutions were drafted by 
Brown, and Montgomery presented them to the meeting. They 
were adopted, after some modification. 315 The preamble re- 
cites that "the citizens of Linn County, assembled in mass meet- 
ing at Mound City, being greatly desirous of securing a per- 
manent peace to the people of the Territory generally, and to 
those along the border of Missouri in particular, have this day 
entered into the following agreement and understanding, for 
our future guidance and actions." The articles provide that 
all criminal processes, pending against Free-State men, grow- 
ing out of difficulties with pro-slavery parties, shall be forever 
discontinued and quashed ; that all Free-State men held in con- 
finement, on account of similar difficulties, shall be immediately 
- released. Article 4 covered a very wide range. It provided 
that "No troops, marshal or other officers of the General Gov- 

3i3Villard, 363. 
3i*Villard, 364. 
315 Villard, 666. 



268 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 

eminent, shall be either sent or called in, to enforce or serve 
criminal processes against any Free-State man or men on ac- 
count of troubles heretofore existing for any act prior to this 
date." A "recommendation" that was unanimously agreed to 
was, "that we earnestly recommend that all those who have re- 
cently taken money, or other property, from peaceable citizens 
within this county, immediately restore the same to their proper 
owners." 

Brown was not sincere in his participation in this meeting as 
an advocate for peace. His plans were already formed for a 
grand coup, to raise money. He intended to do something 
spectacular — something that would be worthy of his name and 
of his reputation. The homes that he intended to plunder had 
been selected long before, and the premises in each case thor- 
oughly reconnoitered. All the essential details had been pro- 
vided for. He was simply waiting, at this time, in a state of 
expectancy, for the psychological moment to arrive : then he in- 
tended to strike. September 10th, he wrote to Mr. Sanborn : 
Before I was taken sick there was every prospect of some 
business very soon, and there is some now that requires 
doing. I have but fourteen regularly employed hands, the 
most of whom are now at common work, and some are sick. 
How we travel may not be best to write. I have met the 
notorious Montgomery and think very favorably of him. 316 
October 11th, he wrote to his wife from Osawatomie: 
"... I can now see no good reason why I should not be lo- 
cated nearer home, as soon as I can collect the means for de- 
fraying the expenses. I still intend sending you some further 
help, as soon as I can. Will write you how to direct to me 
hereafter." 317 November 1st, he wrote to her from Moneka: 
"I shall write you where to direct when I know where to do so." 
From these letters it appears that his plans were complete ex- 

316 Sanborn, 477. 

317 Sanborn, 479. 



SHUBEL MORGAN PLUNDER COMPANY 269 

cept as to the date for the execution of them. December 2d, he 
wrote to his family as follows : 318 

I have just this moment returned from the South where 
the prospect of quiet was probably never so poor. Other 
parts of the Territory are undisturbed and may very likely re- 
main so ; unless drawn into the quarrel of the border coun- 
ties. I expect to go South again immediately. . . When 
I wrote you last I thought the prospect was that I should 
soon shift my quarters somewhat. I still have the same pros- 
pect, but am wholly at a loss as to the exact time. 
His opportunity came December 16th, 319 when Montgomery, 
with a force of nearly one hundred men, marched upon Fort 
Scott, to effect the release of Mr. Benjamin Rice, who had been 
arrested. November 16th, in violation of the bv-gones-to-be-by- 
gones provision of the treaty of June 15th; and had not been 
released after the adoption of the Sugar Mound Treaty of De- 
cember 6th. In this exploit a merchant of Fort Scott, Mr. J. 
H. Little, was killed, and his store robbed of goods amounting 
to about seven thousand dollars. Montgomery organized his 
company for this raid December 14th, and, upon invitation, 
Brown, Stevens, and Kagi joined in the expedition. Stevens 
and Kagi took part in the affair; Stevens being charged, by 
some writers, with having killed Little. But Brown, "with his 
customary dislike to serve under another," or probably, because 
of his higher responsibilities, took no part in the attack. He 
went "only as far as the rendezvous" at the Wimsett farm, 
where he probably received his share of the loot. 

Returning on the 19th, he collected his men, and on the night 
of the 20th, executed his famous raid into Missouri. The party 
operated in two divisions — one under Brown's direction and 
the other under Stevens's orders. With Brown were Charles 
Jennison, Jeremiah Anderson, Geo. B. Gill, Kagi, and three or 
four others. This party was to rob the plantations of Mr. 

sis Villard, 365. 
3'9Villard. 366. 



270 JOHN BROWN: A CRITIQUE 

Harvey B. Hicklan and Mr. John Larue. The latter lived 
about three-fourths of a mile from the Hicklan home. With 
the Stevens party were Tidd, Hazlett, and five others. This 
band was to rob the places of David Cruise and Hugh Martin. 
Cruise, in addition to his other possessions, had a slave girl that 
Stevens wanted — and got — but not until after he had killed 
Cruise. A statement by Stevens, made at the Kennedy farm, 
in Maryland, furnishes all the information that exists concern- 
ing the details of the murder. He is reported as saying 320 that 
he went to the cabin and demanded the girl; that the old man 
asked him to come inside, which he thoughtlessly did, and that 
then the old man slipped behind him and "pulled a gun." That 
it then became a case of "shoot first. You might call it a case 
of self defense, or you might say that I had no business in there 
and that the old man was right." 

Brown's party arrived at the Hicklan home at midnight, 
forced the door open, and with pointed revolvers intimidated 
Hicklan, and proceeded to plunder the establishment. Mr. Gill, 
who appears to have been in charge of the ethics of the occasion, 
says, that in spite of his efforts to restrain the men, they took 
practically everything that was in sight. "Some of our men," 
he said, "proved to be mere adventurers, ready to take from 
friend or foe as opportunity offered." This statement, by one 
who knew whereof he spoke, is the clearest exposition of the 
character of Brown's thefts that has been made. The robbery 
on the night of December 20, 1858, was his final transaction of 
that character. All of the property stolen by him during that 
night belonged to pro-slavery men. Therefore, Mr. Gill's knowl- 
edge that "some of their number were mere adventurers, ready 
to take from friend or foe as opportunity offered" could not have 
been derived from their conduct on this occasion. The statement 
is explicit evidence that Brown and his men were not moved or 
controlled by any sentiment relating to slavery; or by any polit- 
ical bias in their thefts, but that they were common thieves, 

320 Villard, 369. 



SHUBEL MORGAN PLUNDER COMPANY 271 

operating under the protection of Free-State sentiment while 
they robbed and plundered Free-State men and pro-slavery men, 
without discrimination as opportunity offered. It may be said, 
in general terms, that all horses look alike to a horse thief. It 
is the horse, per se, that appeals to the thief, rather than the 
political affiliations of the owner. In the absence of competent 
testimony to the contrary, it would be said, promptly, of Brown, 
that he was an exception to this rule, as well as to all other 
rules, that control human actions ; that he was moved by loftier 
motives than those which control the actions of the ordinary 
horse thief; that he confined his plundering to pro-slavery men, 
and robbed them, only, as a private duty, by and with the con- 
sent of the Almighty. But this direct evidence against him, 
and the men whom he controlled, is competent and quite con- 
clusive. 

It has been said that Brown made restitution to Hicklan of 
some of his property. But that statement belongs in the class 
of a long line of personal statements, that have been put for- 
ward from time to time, in palliation of the enormity of Brown's 
crimes, or in attempts to justify them, or in efforts to make it 
appear that he was engaged in an unselfish warfare against 
slavery. Mr. Villard swept away a lot of this rubbish by the 
keen logic of his exposition concerning many of the stories 
which were made current about the Pottawatomie matter. So 
this statement, about returning to Hicklan some of his prop- 
erty, and Mr. Gill's statement that the raid on the night of the 
20th, was inspired by the "J mi Daniels story," belong in the 
same general class of rubbish. Mr. Hicklan stated, in 1888, 
that nothing that was taken was ever recovered. He said : 
They did not give anything back. Brown said to me that 
we might get our property if we could ; that he defied us and 
the whole United States to follow him. He and his men 
seemed anxious to take more from me than they did for they 
ransacked the house in search of money, and I suppose they 
would have taken it if they had found it. . . What I have 



272 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 

stated is the truth and I am willing to swear to it. I do not 
hold any particular malice or prejudice on account of these 
old transactions. Old things have passed away, but the 
truth can never pass away. 321 

Along with the plunder of the Hicklan home, five slaves were 
taken ; these are said to have belonged to the "Lawrence estate" 
then in Hicklan's care, as administrator. Besides the negroes, 
he took from the Lawrence estate two good horses, a yoke of 
oxen, a good wagon, harness, saddles, a considerable quantity 
of provisions, bacon, flour, meal, coffee, sugar, etc. ; all of the 
bedding and clothing of the negroes, Hicklan's shot-gun, over- 
coat, boots, and many other articles belonging to the whites. 
From Larue were taken five negroes, six head of horses, har- 
ness, a wagon, a lot of bedding and clothing, provisions, and, in 
short, all the loot available and portable. 322 Besides killing 
Cruise and looting the home, Stevens took, as claimed by the 
family, two yoke of oxen, a wagon load of provisions, eleven 
mules, and two horses. A mule was also taken from the Hugh 
Martin home. 

After the robberies the two parties united at a point thereto- 
fore agreed upon, and started on the return trip to Kansas. At 
daylight they secreted themselves in a deep wooded ravine, 
where they remained until after dark, when they continued their 
march, arriving at Mr. Wattles's home, two miles north of 
Mound City, at midnight of Wednesday the 22d. Here Brown 
stopped until morning, having with him the slaves, one wagon, 
and two or three of his men ; the others pushing on northward 
with the swag, to get it beyond danger of recovery, and to di- 
vide it or sell it for the benefit of all concerned. 

The liberation of the slaves was a cumbersome and dangerous 
experiment, but it was as necessary as it was dangerous. To 
have taken all this plunder and carried it off without the diver- 
sion of taking the slaves with him, would have been a case of 

321 Villard, 368. 
322 Ibid. 



SHUBEL MORGAN PLUNDER COMPANY 273 

such plain stealing, that Brown would have been completely dis- 
credited therefor ; even the "Secret War Committee'* might have 
joined in the general repudiation of him that would have fol- 
lowed. But the carrying off of the slaves to freedom, in this 
wholesale spectacular way, was great advertising; it distracted 
attention from the basic motive of the raid, and secured credit- 
able notoriety for Brown in the North. It seems, however, 
that after arriving at the Wattles home with the slaves. Brown 
practically, or personally at least, abandoned them to their fate. 
The narrative states : 323 

At dawn on Thursday, the caravan started again, and this 

time without Brown. Two of his men accompanied the one 

ox-team, which was sent forward, one going ahead to act as 

pilot. 

This man, however, turned back, leaving the negroes to make 
their way to Osawatomie alone. They arrived, without any 
mishap, at the home of Mr. Adair, near Osawatomie, on Christ- 
mas Eve, where, it seems, no arrangements had been made to 
receive them. On the arrival of the slaves at his home, Mr. 
Adair says he referred the matter of sheltering them to his wife, 
calling her attention to the responsibility it would involve. 
"She considered the matter a few moments and then said: 'I 
cannot turn them away.' They were taken around to the back 
yard, and the colored people were brought into the back kitchen 
and kept there that night." 324 Continuing the narrative Mr. 
Villard says that at two a. m. of the morning after Christmas, 
the fugitives were finally placed in an old abandoned preemp- 
tion cabin on the south fork of the Pottawatomie, where kind 
neighbors brought them food and gave them encouragement. 325 
In this location they remained until they were taken north. It 
is probable that Brown, in his selfishness, cared but little 
whether these negroes were returned to slavery or not. He had 

3=3 Villard, 372. 
32* Ibid. 
3 25 Ibid. 



274 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 

done his stunt in liberating them, and made no pretense of de- 
fending them or of caring for them until in January, and took 
care not to be near the fugitives while the pursuing bands were 
scouring the country in search of them. 

Naturally no public accounting was ever made of the prop- 
erty taken by the Shubel Morgan Plunder Company, nor has 
any statement ever been made as to the division of the plunder, 
or of a division of the proceeds, among the members of it. But 
it is known that it was the raid and the robbery, that Brown had 
in view, whereby he expected to raise the money to defray the 
expense of the return of the party to the East. January 11, 
1859, he wrote to his family that he had been unable to finish 
up his business as rapidly as he had hoped to when he wrote pre- 
viously — December 2d — and the delay of his departure from 
Kansas until about January 20th, was probably due to the fact 
that it required that length of time to close out the company 
property and make distribution of the proceeds. Final settle- 
ment was probably made at or near Lawrence. Mr. Villard 
says on page 380 : 

Somehow or other Brown recruited his finances while near 
Lawrence, and his wagons, when he drove away, were creak- 
ing with the weight of provisions contributed by Major 
Abbott and Mr. Grover. 

Pending the sale of the plunder and final settlement for it, 
Brown remained an unwelcome prowler, in the neighborhood 
of Moneka, amid a storm of indignation against him that was 
as general as it was severe. Even his "staunch friend Wat- 
tles" severely censured him "for going into Missouri, contrary 
to our agreement, and getting these slaves." On January 2d, 
Brown wrote a formal letter to Montgomery "asking him to 
hold himself in readiness to call out reinforcements at a mo- 
ment's notice, to prevent a possible invasion because of a raid 
into Missouri." But Montgomery was not holding himself in 
readiness to defend Brown, or to repel the retaliatory invasion 
he had invited ; but "was eagerly at work for peace ;" seeking 



SHUBEL MORGAN PLUNDER COMPANY 275 

to prevent a retaliatory blow from falling upon the Free-State 
settlement. What Montgomery wrote to Brown in reply to 
this letter, if he answered it at all, has never been published. 
He denied having any complicity with Brown, and joined in the 
general denunciation of him, and in the condemnation of his 
action. It was this denunciation of him by Montgomery and 
the Free-State men generally that called forth Brown's personal 
defense of his conduct, in what he called his "Parallels" ; a pa- 
per conspicuous in Brown literature. 

The Lawrence Herald of Freedom on January 8, 1859, pub- 
lished a letter from a clergyman at Moneka, from which the fol- 
lowing paragraphs are extracts : 32G 

I have watched the progress of these troubles here until 
I am sick-heart-sick with humanity. Here are men claim- 
ing to be Christians, and even ministers of the Gospel, who 
profess to be guided in their actions by the teachings of the 
Prince of Peace, who have organized a body of murderers, 
robbers, gamblers and horse-thieves, and subsisting by 
plunder. They are riding over the country and committing 
the basest of crimes. If this is Christianity anything would 
be preferable to it. 

The strangest of all is to see peace men, those in the States 
who were members of peace societies, and who were sending 
delegates to peace congresses, laboring to inaugurate civil 
war, with the expressed object of working a revolution 
throughout the nation, ultimating in a dissolution of the 
Union ; and all to procure the emancipation of the slave. 
Simple men ! They should learn that revolutions involving 
such grave consequences are not usually set on foot by mur- 
derers and thieves. Though Brutus triumphed over the 
dead corpse of Caesar, yet it is not believed that in this age 
of enlightment a few ignoramuses and desperadoes of the 
character of those in this country can succeed in crushing 
out slavery and with it American freedom. 
But Brown's band was the only band of thieves operating in 
32 « Kansas Conflict, 408. 



276 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 

that neighborhood after July 15, 1858. The Shubel Morgan 
Company, then, was the "organized body of murderers, robbers, 
gamblers and horse thieves" described and complained of by the 
Moneka clergyman — "Men who prosecute their nefarious 
business in the name of God and Humanity." The Herald of 
Freedom seems to have fallen under Brown's displeasure. He 
thought "all honest, sensible Free-State men in Kansas consider 
George Washington Brown's 'Herald of Freedom' one of the 
most traitorous publications in the whole country." 32T 

On January 11, 1859, Governor Medary asked the Territorial 
Legislature, then in session, to appropriate $250 as a reward 
for the arrest of Montgomery, and a similar amount for the ar- 
rest of Brown. In response to this, Montgomery wrote a letter 
to the Lawrence Republican, saying, among other things : "For 
Brown's doings in Missouri, I am not responsible. I know 
nothing of either his plans or intentions. Brown keeps his own 
counsels, and acts on his own responsibility. I hear much said 
about Montgomery and his company. I have no company. 
We have had no organization since the 5th day of July." 
Continuing, Mr. Villard says that Montgomery came to Law- 
rence on January 18th, and delivered himself up to Judge El- 
more, who placed him in the custody of the sheriff. There be- 
ing but one indictment against him, and that for robbing a post- 
office, he was released on bail, in the sum of $4,000. Three 
days later he returned home and continued his efforts in behalf 
of peace. He came back to Lawrence on February 2d, with 
six of his men, who also surrendered themselves to the Terri- 
torial officers. 

About this time Brown received a visit from George A. 
Crawford, a Free-State Democrat residing at Fort Scott, who 
said some things to Brown at the request of Governor Medary. 
In a letter to Hon. EH Thayer of August 4, 1879, Crawford 

327 Sanborn, 476. 

328 Villard, 377. 



SHUBEL MORGAN PLUNDER COMPANY 277 

states the substance of this conversation. Some extracts from 
the letter are as follows : 329 

. . . I protested to the Captain against this violence. 
We were settlers, he was not. He could strike a blow and 
leave. The retaliatory blow would fall on us. Being a 
Free-State man, I myself was held personally responsible by 
pro-slavery ruffians in Fort Scott for the acts of Captain 
Brown. One of these ruffians, Brockett, when they gave me 
notice to leave the town said, "When a snake bites me, I 
don't go hunting for that particular snake. I kill the first 
snake I come to." 

I called Captain Brown's attention to the facts that we 
were at peace with Missouri ; that our Legislature was then 
in the hands of Free-State men to make the laws ; that even 
in our disturbed counties of Bourbon and Linn we were in a 
majority and had elected the officers both to make and ex- 
ecute the laws ; that without peace we could have no immi- 
gration ; that no Southern immigration was coming ; that 
agitation such as his was only keeping Northern friends 
away, etc. The old man replied that it was no pleasure to 
him, an old man, to be living in the saddle, away from home 
and family and exposing his life ; and if the Free-State men 
of Kansas felt they no longer needed him, he would be glad 
to go. . . 

On account of the unfriendly criticism of his conduct. Brown 
left the neighborhood of Moneka January 11th and went to 
Osawatomie, and about the 20th, in company with Gill and 
Kagi, convoying the slaves, set out on the journey to the North. 
Stevens and Tidd were with the party at Osawatomie, but they 
were detailed to steal ''a span of horses" the day the caravan 
moved, which made it necessary for them to scurry out of the 
neighborhood as rapidly as the horses which they had stolen 
could travel. 

Concerning this transaction Mr. Gill says, 330 that a day or 

329 Kansas Conflict, 405-407. 
3 30 Villard, 379. 



278 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 

two before starting he found out that a Missourian, with a span 
of horses, was stopping temporarily a few miles from Osawat- 
omie ; also that he had a well grounded suspicion that they had 
been stolen from Free-State men. At Garnett, he says, he 
communicated his suspicion "to Stevens and Tidd, who set out, 
the same evening that we did, to replevin these horses. After 
doing so they proceeded to Topeka to await us; Kagi also," he 
says, "scouted ahead for some purpose, most probably to ar- 
range stopping-places for us, leaving Brown and myself alone 
with the colored folks." 

With the stealing of these horses "Brown's men wound up 
their business in South Eastern Kansas." It was probably 
their last theft in the Territory. What their first one was, and 
what their intermediate acts were, can only be surmised. Sum- 
marizing his work in Kansas during 1858 Mr. Villard says: 331 
As for John Brown, he was ready to leave the Territory 
for the last time. Of constructive work there was no more 
to his credit than when he left the Territory in 1856. . . 
The sole act of any significance to be credited to him during 
these six months in Southern Kansas is the capture of the 
slaves. . . Certain it is that the Missouri raid, in viola- 
tion of his agreement, caused many peaceful Free-State set- 
tlers to flee their homes for fear of violence, and might have 
resulted seriously but for the efforts of certain Missourians 
to keep the peace. . . 

Brown's successful trip across the country, from Kansas to 
Canada, in the rigor of winter, with these colored fugitives, 
will always stand to the credit of his courage, his sagacity, and 
his perseverance. The initial drive from Osawatomie to Major 
Abbott's place near Lawrence, where they arrived January 24th, 
had its discomforts. Mr. Villard, quoting from Gill's narrative 
says : "Through mud, and then over frozen ground, without 
a dollar in their pockets, their shoes all but falling apart, Gill 
and Brown, resolutely drove the slow-going ox-team with its 
33i Villard, 378. 



SHUBEL MORGAN PLUNDER COMPANY 279 

load of women and children. Gill's feet were frozen, and the 
'old man's fingers, nose and ears frozen.' ' From Abbott's 
hospitable home they sent the ox-team to Lawrence to be sold, 
and in its place obtained horses and wagons. On the 28th, the 
narrative states, they arrived at Holton "amid all the discom- 
forts of a driving prairie snow storm." But the storm could 
not have been very severe, because upon their arrival next day 
at Spring Creek, six miles distant, that stream "was too high to 
ford" and they were compelled to remain there over Sunday. 
The storm therefore must have been a rain storm rather than a 
prairie blizzard. 

About this time Brown's movements were discovered and his 
location had become known ; also the Territorial authorities be- 
came active in an effort to arrest him. On Saturday, as the 
story goes, a volunteer posse from Atchison, under Mr. A. P. 
Wood, arrived upon the scene, and took up a position on the 
north side of Spring Creek, barring Brown's further progress 
northward. It looked as though the "chase was trapped": and 
Governor Medary with evident satisfaction announced the fact 
to President Buchanan. The Governor also sent a special mes- 
senger — Deputy Marshal Colby — to Colonel Sumner, com- 
manding at Fort Leavenworth, informing that officer as to the 
situation, and requesting that troops be sent to capture him. 
But Brown, in anticipation of hostilities, had sent to Topeka for 
assistance, and Colonel John Ritchie, with about twenty men. 
responded to his call, arriving at his camp about noon on Mon- 
day. Upon the arrival of these reinforcements. Brown 
promptly moved toward the crossing of the creek, and quite as 
promptly the Atchison party abandoned its position. The en- 
gagement that followed seems to have been a contest for speed, 
and was appropriately named "The Battle of the Spurs." 
The Leavenworth Times had this to say about the battle : 33 

sssVillard, 382. 

333 J bid. 



280 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 

The chase was a merry one, and closed by Brown's taking 
off three of his pursuers as prisoners ; with four horses, pis- 
tols, guns, etc., as legitimate plunder. 

February 10th, Brown was at Tabor, Iowa. From there he 
wrote to his wife : 334 

I am once more in Iowa, through the great mercy of God. 
Those with me and other friends are well. I hope soon to 
be at a point where I can learn of your welfare & perhaps 
send you something besides my good wishes. I suppose you 
get the common news. May the God of my fathers be your 
God. 

Brown's reception by the people of Tabor was a disappoint- 
ment. He arrived on Saturday and hoped to receive an ovation 
at the church next day ; and that a "collection" would be taken 
up for his benefit. To bring this about he prepared the follow- 
ing notice, which he handed to the Rev. John Todd, as the lat- 
ter entered his church Sunday morning, which he desired should 
be read to the congregation : 335 

John Brown respectfully requests the church at Tabor 
to offer public thanksgiving to Almighty God in behalf of 
himself, & company : & of their rescued captives in particular 
for his gracious preservation of their lives, & health ; & his 
signal deliverance of all out of the hand of the wicked, hith- 
erto. "Oh, give thanks unto the Lord ; for he is good ; for 
his mercy endureth forever." 

But there was objection and the note was not read. The fame 
of Brown's actions, or the infamy of them, had preceded him 
at Tabor, which was probably confirmed by the swaggering and 
boasting of his men. At any rate, after conferring with Dr. 
H. D. King, who occupied the pulpit with -Mr. Todd, the latter 
declined to read the note, or to take up the collection. 336 Dr. 
King is reported to have said : 

334 Villard, 383. 
335 Villard, 384. 
336 Villard, 385. 



SHUBEL MORGAN PLUNDER COMPANY 281 

Brother Todd, this is your church, but if I were you 1 
would not make a prayer for them. Inasmuch as it is said 
they have destroyed life, and stolen horses, I should want to 
take the charge under examination before I made a public 
prayer. 337 

Brown was equally unfortunate at a public meeting - which 
he called for Monday. It resolved that "we have no Sympathy 
with those who go to Slave States to entice away Slaves, & take 
property or life when necessary to attain that end." 338 

At Grinnell Brown held two night meetings, with full houses, 
at which he and Kagi spoke. Both were loudly cheered. The 
collections, too, were satisfactory: "$26.50 and whole party 
and teams kept for Two days without cost. Sundry articles of 
clothing given to captives. Bread, Meat, Cakes, Pies, etc., pre- 
pared for our journey." 339 

In justification of his Missouri raid, Brown, in March, wrote 
to Mr. John Teesdale of the Des Moines Register : 34 ° 

First, it has been my deliberate judgment, since 1855, that 
the most ready and effectual way to retrieve Kansas would 
be to meddle directly with the peculiar institution. Next, 
we had no means of moving the rescued captives without tak- 
ing a portion of their lawfully acquired earnings, all we took 
has been held sacred to that object and will be. 
The last clause of the latter statement would move Jennison's 
ghost to smile if it were read to it. 341 

The caravan arrived at Springdale February 25th, and re- 
mained there until March 10th, when the colored people and 
their traps were loaded into a box car, at West Liberty, and 
taken by an express train to Chicago. The use of a box car, 

33? Villard, 385. 

388 Ibid. 

339 Villard, 387. 

*»> Villard, 386. 

3,1 It is the personal opinion of the writer that Jennison got the "long 
end" of the loot taken in this raid; an opinion that will not be chal- 
lenged by anyone who knew him. 



282 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 

and the transportation of the fugitives to Chicago, was quietly 
arranged by Mr. Grinnell with Superintendent Tracey, of the 
railroad. The latter refused to accept payment for the service, 
saying: "We might be held for the value of every one of 
those niggers." 

Arriving at Chicago, March 11th, at 4:40 a. m., Brown re- 
ported his case to Allen Pinkerton, who took charge of the 
party. Pinkerton also raised a fund of about six hundred dol- 
lars for Brown ; and arranged with General Superintendent 
Hammond, of the Michigan Central Railway, for a car and 
transportation for the outfit to Detroit. Kagi had charge of 
the party from Chicago to Detroit where they arrived March 
12th, at 10 o'clock a. m., Brown having preceded them on an 
earlier train to arrange for their reception at Windsor, Canada. 
He met them on the ferry boat and escorted them across the 
river to freedom. 342 

The liberation of these slaves in Missouri, and the safe de- 
livery of them in Canada was a capable performance. But it 
is not believable that the department of justice at any time 
contemplated any interference with Brown, or that it made any 
attempt to arrest him, or had any desire to effect his arrest. 
That it had him under surveillance, and had reports of his 
movements, from the time he arrived at Holton until he disem- 
barked the fugitives at Windsor, there can be no reasonable 
doubt ; and that it had the power to arrest him, if it desired to 
do so, will not be denied. But the fugitive slave law, at this 
time, had become a grievous thorn in the political flesh of the 
northern Democracy. The Administration had troubles enough, 
already, in the distracted condition of the country, without fur- 
ther antagonizing Northern public sentiment, and turning loose 
upon itself the tempest of criticism and censure that would 
surely follow if Brown were arrested, and a heartless judge 
should remand back to slavery and punishment these timid, 
shrinking, friendless women and children. 

342 Villard, 389-390. 



CHAPTER XII 

MOBILIZING THE PROVISIONAL ARMY 

Confusion on thy banners wait! 

Though fann'd by Conquest's crimson zving. — Gray 

Released from further responsibility for his fugitive wards, 
and wearing the laurels of his recent adventures, Brown began 
the reorganization of his forces for the final hazard. Arriving 
at Cleveland March 15th, he proceeded to sell, publicly, what 
remained of his share of the Kansas-Missouri plunder which 
had been forwarded to that point from Springdale : two horses 
and a mule. Brown announced that, notwithstanding the Mis- 
souri origin of the stock, they were now 'Abolition" animals; 
explaining his metaphor by the statement that he had "con- 
verted" them. A pen picture of Brown by Artemus Ward, 
reads as follows : 343 

He is a medium sized, compactly-built and wiry man, as 
quick as a cat in his movements. His hair is of a salt and 
pepper hue and as stiff as bristles; he has a long, waving, 
milk white goatee which gives him a somewhat patriarchal 
appearance. A man of pluck, is Brown. You may bet on 
that. He shows it in his walk, talk and actions. He must 
be rising sixty and yet we believe he could lick a yard full 
of wild cats before breakfast and without taking off his coat. 
Turn him into a ring with nine Border ruffians, four bears, 
six injuns and a brace of bull pups and we opine that "the 
eagles of victory would perch on his banner." We don't 
mean by this that he looks like a professional bruiser, who 
hits from the shoulder, but he looks like a man of iron and 
one that few men would like to "sail into." 



3«Villard, 391. 



284 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 

Kagi appeared to him "like a melancholy brigand, some of 
whose statements were no doubt false and some shamefully 
true." A summary of the lecture Brown delivered at Cleve- 
land reads as follows : 344 

Brown's description of his trip to Westport and capture 
of eleven niggers was refreshingly cool, and it struck us, 
while he was giving it, that he would make his jolly fortune 
by letting himself out as an Ice Cream Freezer. He meant 
this invasion as a direct blow at slavery. He did not dis- 
guise it — he wanted the audience to distinctly understand 
it. With a few picked men, he visited Westport in the night 
and liberated eleven slaves. He also "liberated" a large num- 
ber of horses, oxen, mules and furniture at the same time. 
In this speech Brown made the only acknowledgment of rec- 
ord, of his relation to the Pottawatomie assassinations. The 
Leader, which was friendly to Brown, quoted him as saying, 345 
that "he had never killed anybody, although on some occasions 
he had shown his young men with him, how some things might 
be done as well as others and they had done the business." 
Brown also impressed Mr. Alcott, who said of him after hear- 
ing his lecture at Concord, May 8th : 346 

He tells his story with surprising simplicity and sense, im- 
pressing us all deeply with his courage and religious earn- 
estness. . . I had a few words with him after his speech, 
and find him superior to legal traditions and a disciple of the 
Right in ideality and the affairs of state. A young man 
named Anderson accompanies him. They go armed, I am 
told, and will defend themselves if necessary. He does not 
conceal his hatred of slavery, nor his readiness to strike a 
blow for freedom at the proper moment. He is of imposing 
appearance. . . I think him about the manliest man I have 
ever seen. 

The principal matter in hand now was to finance the initial 

344 Villard, 393. 

345 Ibid. 

346 Sanborn, 504. 



MOBILIZING THE PROVISIONAL ARMY 285 

movement of the campaign. All the skies were clear. Time 
and the Kansas diversion had discredited Forbes's truthful 
statements and eliminated him from the problem. There was 
to be no further shifting of the scene, or hesitation or faltering. 
The flood in his affairs was rising, carrying him on its crest, to 
his fate. To the intelligent and insistent perseverence of Mr. 
Sanborn belongs the credit, or the discredit, as the reader may 
elect, for making Brown's operations possible. He stood, or 
became sponsor for Brown's integrity of purpose in January, 
1857, and financed his subsequent career. May 30th, he wrote 
Colonel Higginson : 

Capt. B. has been here for three weeks, and is soon to leave 

— having got his $2000 secured. He is at the U. S. Hotel ; 

and you ought to see him before he goes, for now he is to 

begin. 347 

Mr. Sanborn states 347a that in all, a little more than four 
thousand dollars passed through the hands of the secret commit- 
tee or was known to it, as having been contributed in aid of the 
"Virginia enterprise:" and that those who contributed thirty- 
eieht hundred dollars of this sum, did so "with a clear knowl- 
edge of the use to which it would be put." 

At North Elba, about June 16th, Brown bid his family fare- 
well and went to West Andover where he made arrangements 
with his son John to take upon himself the combined duties of 
quartermaster general, and recruiting and mustering officer. 
From Ohio he went to Pennsylvania, writing to Kagi, from 
Pittsburgh, under the name of S. Monroe. He was at Bedford 
on June 26th, and at Chambersburg on the 28th. From Cham- 
bersburg, on June 30th, in company with two of his sons. Owen 
and Oliver, and Jeremiah G. Anderson, Brown left for the 
"front." On that day he wrote Kagi under the name of "I 
Smith & Sons" saying that they were leaving for Harper's 
Ferry and would be looking for "cheap lands near the railroad 

•« Villard, 396. 
3478 Sanborn, 423. 



286 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 

in all probability." July 3d, they arrived at Sandy Hook, 
Maryland, and spent the next day reconnoitering the country 
on the Maryland side of the Potomac above Harper's Ferry. 

To a Mr. Unseld, whom they met during the morning, Brown 
stated that they were farmers from northern New York and 
because of late frosts and other disadvantages, they had decided 
to seek a new location; that they had a little money and in- 
tended to buy a farm, but would prefer to rent a place until 
they became better acquainted with farm values in the neighbor- 
hood. He also told him that his business would be buying fat 
cattle for the New York market. Unseld suggested to them 
a farm belonging to the heirs of a Dr. Kennedy, recently de- 
ceased, which was then for sale. This farm was located about 
five miles from Harper's Ferry on the Boonsboro road. It had 
probably been selected for headquarters for the "Provisional 
Army" by Cook, who had been stationed at Harper's Ferry for 
more than a year. 

The Kennedy farm suited Brown "exactly." He went to 
Sharpsburg immediately and leased two houses that were on the 
place, with firewood, and pasture for a horse and a cow, until 
March 1, 1860; the total consideration being thirty-five dollars. 
The main house stands about three hundred yards from the road 
on the south side. "There was a basement, kitchen and a store- 
room, a living room and bed rooms on the second story, and 
an attic." The "cabin" stood about the same distance from the 
road on the north side of it. Notwithstanding the distance 
from the road, Brown was constantly in danger of being 
brought under suspicion by the friendly but inquisitive neigh- 
bors, who were constantly dropping in to see the newcomers ; 
but w T ho were never invited to come into the house. To further 
disarm suspicion Brown, on July 5th, sent for his wife and 
daughter Anne, to report at headquarters. Mrs. "Smith," 
however, seemed to think she could not so readily abandon her 
home and her young children. But Oliver Brown's young wife 
came instead ; she and "Annie" arrived about the middle of July. 



MOBILIZING THE PROVISIONAL ARMY 287 

On the 10th of this month, Brown wrote to Kagi, who was at 
Chambersburg, that it would be "distressing in many ways, to 
have a lot of hands for many days, out of employ. We must 
make up our lot of hands as nearly at one & the same time as 
possible." 348 - 

August 11th, there was a panic on the bourse of the Pro- 
visional Government. Kagi reported the arrival of fifteen 
boxes of arms with freight charges amounting to $85.00, which 
caused Brown to ask his son John to solicit for him "a little 
more assistance, say two or three hundred dollars." Continu- 
ing he said : 

It is terribly humiliating to me to begin soliciting of friends 
again; but as the harvest opens before me with increasing 
encouragements, I may not allow a feeling of delicacy to de- 
ter me from asking the little further I expect to need. 349 
In due time his requisition for funds was honored from the 
never-failing purse of Gerrit Smith. Brown's means of trans- 
portation consisted of a horse and a wagon, but a contract for 
moving the arms from Chambersburg to the Kennedy farm was 
awarded to a "Pennsylvania Dutchman" who had a large 
freight wagon. 350 

Meanwhile the movement progressed in a systematic and 
orderly manner. There was grave danger, however, that the 
secret of the contemplated insurrection would transpire through 
the loquacity of the many persons, estimated by Mr. Villard at 
possibly, eighty, who had more or less knowledge of the enter- 
prise. Brown seems to have feared that Cook, especially, 
might give up information that would work disaster. It was 
not that he held his loyalty in doubt, but he had been reported 
to the commander-in-chief on a previous occasion, by the hon- 
orable secretary of state, Mr. Realf, for "cacoethes loquendi," 
and Brown feared a recrudescence of the malady. In a letter 



34 « Villard, 406. 
3* 9 Villard, 407. 
360 Ibid. 



288 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 

to Kagi at Chambersburg, August 11th, he severely reproved 
those who had made their business in Maryland a subject for 
general correspondence. But his expressions of displeasure, 
did not prevent Leeman from writing to his mother, a month 
and a half later, as follows : 351 

I am now in a Southern Slave State and before I leave it 
it will be a free State, Mother . . . Yes, mother I am 
waring with Slavery the greatest Curse that ever infested 
America ; In Explanation of my Absence from you for so 
long a time I would tell you that for three years I have been 
Engaged in a Secret Association of as gallant fellows as ever 
puled a trigger with the sole purpose of the Extermination 
of Slavery. 

A warning, which was received by the Honorable Secretary of 
War, August 25th, notifying the department that Brown was 
then promoting a general insurrection among the slaves, prob- 
ably had its origin in Cook's indiscreet volubility. The letter, 
addressed to "J- B. Floyd, Sec'y of War," "Private" is as fol- 
lows : 352 

Cincinnati, August 20. 
Sir : I have lately received information of a movement 
of so great importance that I feel it my duty to impart it to 
you without delay. 

I have discovered the existence of a secret association, 
having for its object the liberation of the slaves at the South, 
by a general insurrection. The leader of the movement is 
old John Brown, late of Kansas. He has been in Canada 
during the winter, drilling the negroes there, and they are 
only waiting for his word to start for the South to assist the 
slaves. They have one of their leading men (a white man) 
in an armory in Maryland — where it is situated, I have not 
been able to learn. As soon as every thing is ready, those 
of their number who are in the Northern States and Canada 
are to come in small companies to their rendezvous, which 

35 i Villard, 408. 

352 Mason Report, 250. Testimony of Hon. John B. Floyd. 



MOBILIZING THE PROVISIONAL ARMY 289 

is in the mountains in Virginia. They will pass down through 
Pennsylvania and Maryland and enter Virginia at Harper's 
Ferry. Brown left the North about three or four weeks ago, 
and will arm the negroes and strike a blow in a few weeks ; so 
that whatever is done must be done at once. They have a 
large quantity of arms at their rendezvous and are probably 
distributing them already. As I am not fully in their con- 
fidence, this is all the information I can give you. I dare not 
sign my name to this, but trust that you will not disregard the 
warning on that account. 

This letter, which should have led to the immediate over- 
throw and wreck of the Provisional Government of the United 
States, had been enclosed in an envelope addressed to the post- 
master at Cincinnati, and mailed at Big Rock, Iowa. At Cin- 
cinnati, August 23d, it was remailed to the Honorable Secre- 
tary. Mr. Floyd received it at Red Sweet Springs, Virginia, 
August 25th, and while not attaching sufficient importance to the 
subject of the communication to read it a second time, he pre- 
served the letter, and, after the denouement, published it. In ex- 
planation of his indifference to the contents of this letter, he 
stated to the Mason Committee, that the reference to the arsenal 
in Maryland misled him, there being no armory in that state. 
He therefore, supposed the whole thing was a hoax, and gave 
it no further attention. The history of the letter was revealed 
in later years by its author, David J. Gue, of Scott County, 
Iowa, who obtained his information from Mr. Moses Varney, 
of Springdale. 353 

As the days passed, the men, who were to form the nucleus 
of the army of invasion, straggled into Harper's Ferry and 
reported at headquarters for duty. August 6th, Watson Brown 
arrived, and with him came the Thompson brothers, William 
and Dauphin. They were brothers to Henry Thompson, who 
had been with Brown in Kansas in 1856. Then came Tidd 
and Stevens, et al, and last of all, but one of the most welcome 
353 Gue, History of loiw, vol. ii. 26-30; Villard, 411. 



290 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 

of all the recruits, came Francis J. Merriam. He arrived at 
the Kenneday farm October 15th, with six hundred dollars in 
gold in his pockets, which he covered into the Provisional 
Treasury. The arrival of Merriam with his gold relieved the 
strain upon Brown's exchequer. The commander-in-chief had 
been compelled to negotiate a loan of forty dollars from Lieu- 
tenant Coppoc, upon the credit of the Provisional Govern- 
ment, to meet the current expenses of the expedition. That 
deficit was now made good, leaving a handsome surplus on 
hand. When Brown was taken into custody three days later, 
he had with him two hundred and fifty or sixty dollars in gold 
and silver. Mrs. Anne Brown Adams said : 354 "The good 
Father in Heaven who furnishes daily bread sent Francis J. 
Merriam down there with his money to help them just at the 
moment it was needed." But it may also be said that in the 
varying vicissitudes of Brown's fortunes, almost any moment 
was just such a moment at this. "His money," Mr. Villard 
states, was Merriam's "only contribution of value to the 
cause. . . In addition to his other physical frailties he had 
lost the sight of one of his eyes." After looking him over, 
Stevens assigned him to duty as guard over the arms which 
were to be left at the Kennedy farm. 

On the 29th of September, the two young women left army 
headquarters to return to their homes. They had rendered 
faithful and valuable services during the months of their stay. 
If the Provisional Government had succeeded, these two women 
would have taken rank with the immortals — Betsy Ross and 
Mollie Stark. Mrs. Adams relates 355 that one day, while 
"we were alone in the yard Owen remarked, as he looked up at 
the house : 'If we succeed, some day there will be a United 
States flag over this house. If we do not, it will be consid- 
ered a den of land pirates and thieves.' ' In the division of 
their labors Anne, and not "Martha," seems to have "chosen 

354 Villard, 421. 

355 Villard, 424. 



MOBILIZING THE PROVISIONAL ARMY 291 

the better part" ; the latter did the cooking for the company, 
and was the general head of the department of domestic econ- 
omy; while Anne, from the watch towers of the rude farm 
house, kept vigils over all the approaches thereto. She was 
the faithful sentinel that sounded the alarm at every sign of 
danger — the vestal virgin, keeping alive the sacred fires upon 
their altar of liberty. The approach of any human being was 
cause for alarm, lest the presence of the invading army might 
be discovered and divulged. An interesting account of the 
daily life at headquarters, by Mrs. Anne Brown Adams is pub- 
lished by Mr. Villard. 356 Of the personnel of the field and staff, 
she says : 

It is claimed by many that they were a wild, ignorant, 
fanatical or adventurous lot of rough men. This is not so, 
they were sons from good families, well trained by orthodox 
religious parents, too young to have settled views on many 
subjects, impulsive, generous, too good themselves to believe 
that God could possibly be the harsh unforgiving being He 
was at that day usually represented to be. Judging them by 
the rules laid down by Christ, I think they were uncommon- 
ly good and sincere Christians, if the term Christian means 
follower of Christ's example, and too great lovers of free- 
dom to endure to be trammeled by church or creed. 
No doubt the conduct of these free-booters, in the presence 
of the young women, at the Kennedy farm, was circumspect 
and commendable, and justified the estimate herein expressed 
of their exemplary characters, and of the Christian lives that 
she supposed they had led, and were living. 

Little indeed did this pure minded girl know of the reckless 
careers and the lives of violence these adventurers represented, 
or of the motives that prompted them to undertake their present 
enterprise. Measuring them by the standards put forth by 
Christ, it will have to be admitted that they were a collection 
of "mis-fit" Christians — as "mild mannered men as ever scut- 



356 Villard, 416-420. 



292 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 

tied ship or cut a throat." Leeman, for instance, may be taken 
as an illustration of one of these ideal "followers of Christ's 
example." "For three years," he had been secretly placing the 
example of his exalted character before the world, warring 
with slavery, in an association of as gallant fellows as ever 
"puled" a trigger. Who these gallant trigger "puling" fel- 
lows were, and what they did to earn their reputations as trig- 
ger "pulers," during these three years, is more or less conject- 
ural. Mrs. Adams turns the light upon Leeman's Christian 
character a little further, by the statement, that "he smoked a 
good deal and drank sometimes." Mr. Villard states that he 
went to Kansas in 1856 with the second Massachusetts colony 
of that year, and became a member of John Brown's "Volun- 
teer-Regulars," September 9, 1856. Also, that he fought well 
at Osawatomie. But since he is reported as having enlisted 
ten days after the battle of Osawatomie there may be some 
mistake as to that. George B. Gill, who knew a good bit about 
him and who may have been a trigger "puler" himself, says 
that he "had a good intellect with great ingenuity." Anne 
heard Hazlett and Leeman, one day, saying that "Barclay 
Coppoc and Dauphin Thompson were too nearly like good girls 
to make soldiers ; that they ought to have gone to Kansas and 
roughed it awhile, to toughen them, before coming down there." 
Cook, it may be said, was less Christ-like than Leeman. He 
was disposed to "swagger," also he "was indiscreet" and 
"boastful." Once, when in a boastful mood, at Cleveland, he 
boasted that he had "killed five men in Kansas." Then too 
he "swaggered openly in his boarding house" which was bad 
form, from a Christian point of view. Also it is said that he 
"revealed too much to a woman acquaintance." 357 Then there 
was Hazlett ; but the record as to his actions is so meager that 
one cannot estimate with any degree of accuracy how "Christ- 
like" he really was. About all that is known of him is that he 
3" Villard, 338. 



MOBILIZING THE PROVISIONAL ARMY 293 

stole a horse — a very fine stallion — from somebody in Mis- 
souri, which, as has been stated, he traded to Brown for a 
forty-acre United States land warrant. Also, he was with 
Stevens when the latter killed Cruise, to get possession of the 
slave girl. As to Stevens, it cannot truthfully be said that he 
was a follower of Christ's example, in the stricter interpre- 
tation of that expression. One of Christ's disciples — Peter — 
it is said, followed the Master "afar off." In that respect Stev- 
ens resembles the disciple rather than the Master. As a matter 
of fact, if Stevens followed Christ's example at all, it was at 
very long range. From what is known of the lives of these 
men, it may be assumed also, that if Charles Jennison had been 
under Anne's observation at the Kennedy farm, he too would 
have secured absolution for his crimes and would have received 
at her hands a certificate of Christianity. 358 

The details that Brown's biographers have published con- 
cerning the concentration of the military stores at his head- 
quarters; his correspondence with his men; the assembling of 
them in Maryland ; his constantly recurring financial embarrass- 
ments, and the edited statements concerning the daily life which 
he and his men led after their arrival at the seat of war, are of 
little or no public interest or value. They fail to touch upon 
the vital purpose that led Brown, in the disguise of a farmer or 
cattle buyer, to take up his residence at the Kennedy farm 
house. They fail to even hint at the broad purpose of his being 
there, or of the commanding things which he strenuously sought 
to promote during the months that he occupied the ground. 
They trifle with their theme and with their characters. These 
men had not dedicated their lives to martyrdom "that others 
might live." Their impromptu metamorphosis from "soiled 
lives" to consecrated lives is gratuitous. They were capitalis- 

358 The writer knew Jennison personally, but the acquaintance with 
him was made "after the War"; after the "Red Legs" had gone out of 
commission. Jennison had reformed by that time and was running a 
gambling house at Leavenworth, Kansas, in a very orderly manner. 



294 



JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 



ed upon "the monstrous wrong which they beheld," and in- 
tended to turn it, through a wrong still more monstrous, to a 
monstrous personal advantage. No maudlin sentiment in- 
spired these men, "with soiled lives behind them" to dare as 
few ever dared before. Their "hearts throbbed" with a 
single mighty purpose — an ambition worthy of the despera- 
tion of their adventure. Their goal was an empire and its 
emoluments ; their rewards the spoils of conquest of the most 
promising field that marauders ever planned to plunder. 

The time finally agreed upon and fixed for the great catas- 
trophe was the night of October 16th. The party consisted of 
the following persons : 



colored : 
J. A. Copeland, Jr. 
L. S. Leary 
O. P. Anderson 
Dangerfield Newby 
Shields Green 



white: 
John Brown 
J. H. Kagi 
A. D. Stevens 
J. E. Cook 

C. P. Tidd 
Albert Hazlett 
J. G. Anderson 
William Thompson 

D. O. Thompson 
Edwin Coppoc 
Barclay Coppoc 
W. H. Leeman 
Owen Brown 
Oliver Brown 
Watson Brown 
F. J. Merriam 
Stewart Taylor 

The extent of the conspiracy among the slaves and the con- 
fidential arrangements and agreements which Brown made and 
entered into with them — his co-conspirators — during the 
months he spent in secret negotiations with them; and the 
pledges and promises that had been exchanged between them 



MOBILIZING THE PROVISIONAL ARMY 295 

will, of course, never be known. But so far as the plans agreed 
upon related to the initial movements, the general outline of 
them was simple enough for the comprehension of every one, 
the untutored slaves included. Brown and his men were to 
occupy Harper's Ferry. They were to cut the telegraph wires 
and take possession of the public buildings located there — the 
armory, the arsenal, and the rifle works — and the military 
stores contained in them. The slaves, on their part, were to re- 
volt against their masters ; murder them and their families, and 
then report to Brown at Harper's Ferry, where they would be 
organized into companies, regiments, and brigades, and be 
armed and equipped from the stock of war material which he 
would have in his possession. 

The war department was doing some business. Stevens, 
Kagi, Cook, Owen Brown, Oliver Brown, Watson Brown, Lee- 
man, William Thompson, J. G. Anderson, Tidd, and Hazlett 
had been appointed captains in the provisional army, and Edwin 
Coppoc and Dauphin Thompson first lieutenants. The pri- 
vates were Taylor, Barclay Coppoc and Merriam, white; and 
Green, Leary, Copeland, Osborn P. Anderson, and Newby. col- 
ored. There is conflict of testimony as to whether Haz'.ett 
was a captain or a lieutenant. Colonel Lee reported him and 
Leeman as lieutenants. A captain's commission, however, was 
found on Leeman's body. William Thompson and J. G. An- 
derson were probably captains. 359 In his confession Cook says : 
There were six or seven in the party who did not know 
anything about our Constitution, and were also ignorant of 
the plan of operations until Saturday morning October 16th. 
Among this number were Edwin and Barclay Coppoc, Mer- 
riam, Shields Green, Copeland and Leary. The Constitu- 
tion was then read to them by Stevens, and the oath, after- 
ward, administered by Captain Brown. 



339 Villard, 678. 



CHAPTER XIII 

THE FIASCO 

The best laid schemes o mice and men 

Gang aft a gley. — Burns 

On Sunday morning, October 16th, 1859, Captain Owen 
Brown and Privates Coppoc and Merriam were detailed for 
duty at the Kennedy farm ; the others were under marching 
orders during the day, awaiting the signal to "fall in," and move 
to the scene of active operations. "The night was dark, end- 
ing in rain." About eight o'clock Brown is reported to have 
said : "Men, get your arms, we will proceed to the Ferry." 
The column was soon in motion. It does not require a long 
time for eighteen men, who are otherwise in readiness to move, 
to put on their accoutrements and pick up their arms. In addi- 
tion to a rifle, two revolvers, and forty rounds of ball cartridges, 
each man carried, in lieu of an overcoat, a long gray shawl, of 
the kind which was fashionable for men's wear at that time. 
The headquarters train — a horse and wagon — was brought 
to the door of the Kennedy farm house, and "some pikes, a 
crow-bar, and a sledge-hammer, were quickly thrown into the 
wagon." A recent biographer says, dramatically: 

In a moment more, the commander-in-chief donned his 
old battle-worn Kansas cap, mounted the wagon, and began 
the solemn march. 

Knowledge of the condition, as to wear and tear, of the cap 
worn by the commander-in-chief on this occasion, is not essen- 
tial to a true understanding of the purposes of the movement. 
But knowledge of the fact that the historian drew upon his 
active and resourceful imagination, when writing the history of 



THE FIASCO 297 

these operations, and that it contributed, immoderately, to the 
character of the writings which he put forth, is essential to such 
understanding. It is therefore pointed out, that the statement, 
while purporting to be one of fact, is altogether fanciful. Also, 
that the biographer's treatment of this trifling incident is char- 
acteristic of the coloring which embellishes his exposition of the 
general subject. But to return to the cap. The Kansas origin of 
it will not be-denied ; it may have been bought or stolen in the 
Territory; but it was not "battle-worn." It will be remembered 
that Brown had but two "battles" in Kansas, so far as the record 
shows, and that in the last one — the Battle of Osawatomie, 
August 30, 1856 — Brown "lost his hat" or his cap or whatever 
his head gear may have been. 360 

A special order, "drawn up and carefully read to all," set 
forth the details of the movement to be executed. In the line 
of march Captains Cook and Tidd walked ahead of the wagon. 
The others, in files of two, followed it. At 10:30, after a 
lonesome but uninterrupted march of more than five miles, they 
arrived at the bridge which spanned the Potomac at Harper's 
Ferry. It was used for both railroad and wagon road pur- 
poses. Cook and Tidd, in the meantime, had detoured to cut 
the telegraph wires leading into the town, and Kagi and Stev- 
ens had the head of the column. While crossing the bridge, 
they took William Williams, the bridge watchman, into cus- 
tody as a prisoner. Then, after posting Captain Watson Brown 
and Private Taylor at the bridge, the company proceeded to the 
Harper's Ferry end of the Shenandoah bridge, a few yards dis- 
tant, where Captain Oliver Brown, Captain William Thomp- 
son, and Private Newby were placed on duty. From there 
they went to the United States Armory, located up the Poto- 
mac, about sixty yards from the ends of the two bridges. At the 
armory gate the watchman on duty, Daniel Wheelan. was 
taken into custodv. Of this incident Wheelan said : 361 



360 Ante, note 191. 

361 Mason Report, 22. 



298 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 

One fellow took me ; they all gathered about me and looked 
in my face ; I was nearly scared to death, so many guns about ; 
I did not know the minute or the hour I should drop ; they 
told me to be very quiet and still, and make no noise or else 
they would put me to eternity. 

Addressing the two prisoners — Wheelan and Williams — 
Brown made the following declaration of his intentions : 362 
I came here from Kansas, and this is a slave State ; I want 

to free all the negroes in this State; I have possession now 

of the United States armory, and if the citizens interfere 

with me, I must only burn the town and have blood. 

Brown then crossed the street to the arsenal building, where 
arms and military equipment, valued at several millions of 
dollars, were stored, and took possession of it, placing Captain 
Hazlett and Lieutenant Coppoc in charge of the property. From 
there, with the remainder of the party, he proceeded to the rifle 
works, located about a half mile up the Shenandoah. Here 
the watchman was made a prisoner and Captain Kagi and Pri- 
vate Copeland were placed on duty. Private Leary was also 
assigned to duty at this post and later reported to Kagi. 

These dispositions of his forces having been made, Brown's 
occupation of Harper's Ferry was complete. All of the Unit- 
ed States property — the military stores accumulated at the 
arsenal ; the armory and the rifle works ; and the principal high- 
ways entering the town, were in his possession. The plans for 
the occupation of the place had been accomplished without the 
firing of a shot. The initial movement of the invasion had 
been successfully executed. 

After the occupation. Brown sent a detail into the country to 
bring in Colonel Lewis T. Washington and Mr. John H. All- 
stadt, whom he intended to hold as hostages for the proper 
treatment of any of his men who might happen to fall into the 
hands of the "enemy." The party was made up of Captains 
Stevens, Cook, and Tidd, and Privates O. P. Anderson, Leary, 

362 Mason Report, 22. 



THE FIASCO 299 

and Green. The Washington home was four or five miles 
from the town. Colonel Washington was a great-grandnephew 
of George Washington. Of this raid into the country, Mr. 
Villard says : 363 

In Colonel Washington's possession was a pistol presented 
to General Washington by Lafayette, as well as a sword now 
in possession of the State of New York, which, according to 
an unverified legend, was the gift of Frederick the Great to 
George Washington. John E. Cook had seen these weapons 
in Colonel Washington's home, and John Brown, beginner of 
a new American revolution, wished to strike his first blow for 
the freedom of a race with them in his hands. 
The closing sentence of this quotation is dramatic and rings 
true ; but it is inconsistent with the author's theory of the move- 
ment, which is, that Brown intended to do trifling things instead 
of heroic things. 

The raiders entered the house by breaking down the back 
door with a fence rail ; and Washington was awakened by hear- 
ing his "name called in an undertone." He opened the bed- 
chamber door and was met by "four armed men, one. with a 
revolver, carrying a burning flambeau, and the others with 
their guns drawn upon him." Stevens was in command. Cook 
had reconnoitered the Washington home a month or so before 
and had been shown the historic weapons herein referred to. 
These Stevens now demanded and received. He also demanded 
the Colonel's money and his watch, but on the refusal of the 
latter to deliver them, the demand was not pressed. When 
asked by Washington what the performance meant, they said, 
"We have come here for the purpose of liberating all the slaves 
of the South, and we are able (or propose to do it) or words 
to that effect." While matters were progressing in-doors, Tidd 
had been busy hitching up the Colonel's two-horse carriage and 
four-horse farm wagon. After putting Colonel Washington in- 
to the carriage and loading the slaves, four men. into the wagon, 
363 Villard, 431. 



300 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 

the caravan moved to the Allstadt home, where the front door 
was broken down with a fence rail, as before, and Allstadt and 
his son, together with his adult male slaves, were taken into cus- 
tody. Father and son were put into the seat of the wagon with 
the negroes and all were driven to Harper's Ferry and delivered 
to Brown at the armory. Brown told Colonel Washington 
that he had taken him for the "moral effect it would give his 
cause to have one of the name a prisoner." With the sword 
of Frederick the Great, and Washington, in his hand, Brown 
now directed his desperate defense. Tuesday morning Wash- 
ington recovered the sword. 364 

In the meantime, at 12 o'clock, Patrick Higgins — also a 
night-watchman — went to the Potomac bridge to relieve 
Night- Watchman Williams who had been taken prisoner. As 
he approached he was "halted" by Oliver Brown, at the Shen- 
andoah bridge, and upon refusing to obey the order, was fired 
upon, the bullet making a wound in his scalp. 365 Upon the arrival 
at Harper's Ferry, of the east-bound Baltimore and Ohio train, 
Higgins reported to the conductor — Phelps — what had hap- 
pened to him. The engineer of the train and the baggage-mas- 
ter, on going forward toward the bridge to investigate, were 
also fired upon. At or about the time this incident occurred, 
Shephard Hayward, the station baggage-master, a free negro, 
went from the station toward the Potomac bridge to look for 
Watchman Williams. Upon being ordered to halt, he turned 
to retrace his steps to the station and was fired upon with fatal 
effect, by Watson Brown's party, "A bullet passing through 
his body a little below the heart," from the effect of which he 
died during the afternoon, about 4 o'clock. The arrival of the 
train being reported to Brown, he personally informed Con- 
ductor Phelps why it was being held, saying : 

We have come to free the slaves and intend to do it at all 

hazards. 



364 Mason Report, 29-40. Testimony of Lewis T. Washington. 
^Villard. 432. 



THE FIASCO 301 

Later, at 3 a. m., Brown notified Phelps that he could now 
proceed with his train and directed him to say to the manage- 
ment of the road : "This is the last train that shall pass the 
bridge either East or West; if it is attempted, it will be at the 
peril of the lives of those having them in charge." 3,i6 Phelps 
however, decided not to move until daylight. From Monocacy, 
at 7:05 a. m., he wired the sitnation to Master of Transporta- 
tion Smith, at Baltimore ; repeating what Brown had said to 
him, and suggesting that he notify the Secretary of War at 
once; concluding his dispatch with this statement: "The tele- 
graph wires are cut East and West of Harper's Ferry and this 
is the first station that I could send a dispatch from." 

The first alarm of what was occurring in the town was given 
out by a resident physician. Dr. John D. Starry. But the note 
which he sounded was not of the "Paul Revere" variety. The 
Doctor was aroused from his slumbers by the firing of the shot 
that struck Hayward, and went to his relief. The remainder 
of the night he spent in observing what was going on but gave 
out no information concerning it. "At daylight," it is said, "he 
could stand it no longer ; he saddled his horse, rode to the resi- 
dence of Mr. A. M. Kitzmiller, who was in charge of the arsenal 
during the absence of the superintendent, Mr. Barbour; ac- 
quainted him, and a number of other officials and workmen with 
the story of the night. He then put spurs to his horse, and 
ascended the hill to Bolivar Heights, where he awoke some 
more sleepers." 367 After arousing the town, the Doctor rode 
to Charlestown, eight miles distant, where the alarm was given 
by ringing all the bells. The local military company — the 
Jefferson Guards — fell in promptly; also a second company, 
composed of men and boys, was organized on the spot, both 
companies taking a train at 10 o'clock for the scene of the 
trouble. 

By 10:30 President Garrett of the Baltimore and Ohio Rail- 
as 6 Villard, 434. 
■•' Villard, 435. 



302 JOHN BROWN: A CRITIQUE 

road Company, had informed the President of the United 
States of the conditions existing at Harper's Ferry. He also 
wired the information to Governor Wise, of Virginia; and to 
Major General Stewart, commanding First Division Maryland 
Volunteers, at Baltimore. 368 The news soon became general. 
From Monocracy it was wired to Frederick, and by 10 a. m. the 
Frederick companies were under arms and had marching orders. 
A Martinsburg company, under Captain E. G. Alburtis, arrived 
at Harper's Ferry during the afternoon, and shortly thereafter 
a company from Winchester reported for duty. Earlier in the 
day two local companies were "mustered into service;" one 
under command of Captain Botts and the other under Captain 
John Avis. Two companies from Shepherdstown also arrived 
— the "Hamtrack Guards" and the "Shepherdstown Troop." 
During the evening three companies arrived from Frederick, 
and five companies from Baltimore. In all sixteen companies 
of State Volunteers were assembled at Harper's Ferry within 
twelve hours from the time the first alarm was given out. 

The second casualty of the day occurred about 7 o'clock a. 
m., when Mr. Thomas Boerly, an Irishman and a resident of 
Harper's Ferry, was fatally shot by one of Brown's men. From 
that time until after 10 o'clock nothing of importance occurred 
in the town, except that Brown ordered breakfast for his war 
party and his prisoners, forty-five in all. The meals were pre- 
pared and served from a nearby hotel — the Wagner House. 

In the early morning, after the prisoners — Colonel Washing- 
ton and the Allstadts — had been delivered to Brown at the 
armory gate, Cook and Leeman proceeded to the Kennedy farm 
with the teams that they had taken from Colonel Washington, 
and began moving the military equipment, which had been left 
there, in care of Owen Brown, to a school-house, that was locat- 
ed about a mile from the Ferry. Later, Brown dispatched Wil- 
liam Thompson to the school-house with a message to Owen, 
saying that "all was going well." Between 9 and 10 o'clock 

368Villard, 435. 



THE FIASCO 303 

Leeman and Thompson returned to Harper's Ferry, bringing 
with them another prisoner, Mr. Terence Brown, a Maryland 
farmer of the neighborhood. After 10 o'clock Brown's position 
became critical. It was fast becoming evident that his plans had 
miscarried ; that the slaves had failed to strike for their freedom ; 
that the fundamental movement of the campaign — the insur- 
rection of the slaves — had not been executed. "THE BU > W" 
which he planned to strike had not been delivered. The attempt 
to "assail the Slave Power with the only weapons that it fears," 
had "flashed in the pan." 

It was not important that the Potomac and the Shenandoah 
bridges were still in his possession and that access to the Mary- 
land mountains was free ; for Brown was not equipped for 
flight, and there are limitations upon physical endurance. Be- 
sides, these Southern mountains were, to him, inhospitable, and 
would furnish neither subsistence nor shelter. Also the in- 
habitants of the vicinity were rising in arms against him, their 
passions inflamed to a condition of frenzy because of the assault 
which he had made upon their lives and property. He well knew 
the excited mob would be upon his trail from the start ; and that 
escape, except for a possible straggler or two, was impossible. 
But there still existed the possibility that the fifteen hundred 
self-emancipated slaves, whom he hoped to have under arms by 
12 o'clock, 309 would begin to arrive. 

Details of the subsequent occurrences are given in a very 
interesting manner by Mr. Villard, on pages 429 to 454. He 
relates that after 10 o'clock, the citizens of Harper's Ferry be- 
came aggressive, and opened a scattering or desultory fire upon 
Brown's position at the armory building. The "Jefferson 
Guards," upon their arrival at Bolivar Heights, marched to a 
point about a mile above the town, where they crossed the Poto- 
mac in boats, and came down the Maryland side of the riv- 
er to the Potomac bridge, driving Watson Brown and Taylor 



3« 9 Sanborn, 557. 



304 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 

from their post. This movement compelled William Thomp- 
son and Newby to abandon their station at the Shenandoah 
bridge, and seek shelter in the armory. The Gait House 
was then occupied by Captain Botts's company, while Captain 
Avis took a position near the crest of Bolivar Heights, overlook- 
ing the town, from where he opened fire upon the armory. 
Newby was killed by this fire before he reached the armory 
enclosure. It is said that his body was shockingly mutilated. 
About 1 o'clock Leeman sought to effect his escape. He left 
the arsenal and attempted to cross the Potomac, a short dis- 
tance above the bridge, and succeeded in getting as far as a 
small island in the river, where he was overtaken and killed by 
a Mr. A. G. Schoppert. The body of the late captain, his 
commission in his pocket, as it lay upon the rocks in the river, 
became an object for target practice, by citizens, and by mem- 
bers of the volunteer military companies then assembling. 

During the afternoon Brown sought to have the firing cease 
by negotiating with the citizens for a truce ; and sent out a pris- 
oner, Mr. Cross, and William Thompson, to make the arrange- 
ment. Thompson was immediately taken and held as a pris- 
oner, for a time, at the Gait House. Later he was led out upon 
the trestle leading to the Shenandoah bridge, where he was shot 
by a mob under the leadership of George W. Chambers and 
Harry Hunter; his body falling into the shallow water below, 
where it became a general target for the mob, in mob fashion. 
Still later. Brown sent Stevens and Watson Brown out, accom- 
panied by Mr. Kitzmiller, under a flag of truce. This flag was 
fired upon from the windows of the Gait House with the result 
that both Stevens and Brown received severe wounds. Brown 
succeeded in dragging himself back to the armory engine-house, 
where he died thirty hours later. One of the prisoners, a Mr. 
Brua, went out and had Stevens carried into the Wager House. 

Between 2 and 3 o'clock a small party, under the com- 
mand of a young man by the name of Irwin, made an attack 
upon the rifle-works on the Shenandoah, where Kagi and his 



THE FIASCO 305 

men were stationed. The latter sought to escape across the 
river, but were shot down before reaching the middle of the 
stream. Kagi fell and died in the water. Leary was mortally 
wounded, and died the following night. Copeland was taken 
prisoner by Mr. James H. Holt, of Harper's Ferry, and by him 
delivered to the Virginia authorities. In the confusion, the 
detail at the arsenal — Hazlett and O. P. Anderson — managed 
to escape unnoticed. They probably abandoned their post as 
soon as it became evident to them that the insurrection feature 
of the venture had miscarried. It is said they first went to the 
Kennedy farm, where they got supplies of provisions, and from 
there they made their way into Pennsylvania. Five days later 
Hazlett was captured at Carlisle, and taken back to Virginia 
under extradition papers, issued by the Governor of the State. 
His trial was had at Charlestown, and he was hanged there, with 
Stevens, March 16, 1860. Anderson fared better; he managed 
to reach Canada, and lived to write a marvelous story of his 
adventures. 

Cook's party, and the detail under Owen Brown, met with 
better success, Cook alone being arrested. He was taken at 
Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, October 25th, and returned to 
Charlestown, Virginia, where he was hanged December 16th. 
E. Coppoc, Green, and Copeland were hanged at the same time. 
The others : Tidd, Barclay Coppoc, Merriam and Owen Brown 
all succeeded in making good their escape. The negroes who 
had been taken returned to their masters. 

About 2 o'clock, George W. Turner was killed. Turner was 
a prosperous farmer of the vicinity. He had been graduated 
from West Point, and had served creditably with the army, in 
Florida. Riding into town, with his shot-gun on his shoulder, 
he became a target for one of Brown's rifles. A shot struck 
him in the neck and killed him instantly. About 4 o'clock Mr. 
Fontaine Beckham, the mayor of the town, was killed. Beck- 
ham was the station agent for the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad 
Company. He stepped out of the station-house to observe what 



306 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 

was going on, when he was fired upon by Edward Coppoc, from 
the engine-house, with fatal effect. He also died instantly. 

The beginning of the final collapse came about 4 o'clock, with 
the arrival of the Martinsburg company. Alburtis attacked the 
armory enclosure and drove Brown, with his most prominent 
prisoners — Colonel Washington, the Allstadts, Brua, Byrne, 
Wells, the armorer, Ball, master-machinist, and J. E. Dainger- 
field, pay-master's clerk — into the engine-house. Of his at- 
tack Captain Alburtis said : 37 ° 

During the fight, we found, in the room adjoining the en- 
gine-house, some thirty or forty prisoners, who had been cap- 
tured and confined by the outlaws. The windows were brok- 
en open by our party and these men escaped. The whole of 
the outlaws were now driven into the engine-house, and owing 
to the great number of wounded requiring our care, and not 
being supported by the other companies, as we expected, we 
were obliged to return. . . Immediately after we drew off, 
there was a flag of truce sent out to propose terms, which 
were that they were to be permitted to retire with their arms, 
and, I think, proceed as far as some lock on the canal, there 
to release their prisoners. The terms were not acceded to. 
There were troops enough on the ground at this time to have 
carried Brown's position by assault ; and it is probable that an 
attack upon the armory would have been ordered, had such ex- 
treme measures been deemed necessary, which was not the case. 
Besides, if an assault had been made by these undisciplined men, 
it would have been attended with the loss of many lives, which, 
under the circumstances, would have been without justification. 
Brown and his party were in a position from which they could 
not escape ; neither could his surrender be long deferred. A pre- 
vailing report, too, that a detachment of United States troops 
— marines — would soon arrive, under the command of an 
experienced officer of the regular army, may have had some 
influence in determining what should be done. However, be- 



370Villard, 443-444. 



THE FIASCO 307 

fore nightfall, a Mr. Samuel Strider delivered a summons to 
Brown, demanding his surrender, to which Brown replied as 
follows : 

Capt. John Brown Answers : 

In consideration of all my men, whether living or dead, or 
wounded, being soon safely in and delivered up to me at this 
point with all their arms and ammunition, we will then take 
our prisoners and cross the Potomac bridge, a little beyond 
which we will set them at liberty ; after which we can ne- 
gotiate about the Government property as may be best. Also 
we require the delivery of our horse and harness at the 
hotel. 371 

The terms of the note were promptly declined by Colonel 
Robert W. Baylor, of the Virginia Cavalry, who seems to have 
been the ranking officer present. He said that "under no con- 
ditions would he consent to a removal of the citizen prisoners 
across the river." Still later in the evening the three companies, 
in uniform, arrived from Frederick, Maryland. One of these 
was under the command of Captain Sinn. This officer pro- 
ceeded to the engine-house and entered into a lengthy conver- 
sation with Brown. During this interview Brown renewed 
his proposal to leave the place, and complained of the treatment 
his men, bearing a flag of truce, had received; that they "had 
been shot down like dogs." Being told that men in his posi- 
tion must expect such treatment. Brown replied that before 
coming there "he had weighed the responsibility and should 
not shrink from it." He thought, however, that he was en- 
titled to better treatment from the people because of what he 
had not done to them ; that he "had had full possession of the 
town and could have massacred all the inhabitants had he 
thought proper to do so." 

During afternoon of the 17th, President Buchanan ordered 
three companies of artillery, from Fortress Monroe, to the 
scene of the trouble; also the detachment of marines, at the 
37iVillard, 447. 

20 



308 JOHN BROWN: A CRITIQUE 

Washington Navy Yard. The latter were under the command 
of Lieutenant Israel Green, U. S. M. C. He also ordered 
Lieutenant Colonel Robert E. Lee, Second United States Cav- 
alry, brevet colonel United States army, to proceed to Harper's 
Ferry and assume command of all the United States troops con- 
centrating there. General J. E. B. Stuart, at that time a first 
lieutenant in the First United States Cavalry accompanied Lee 
as a volunteer aide. The artillery from Fortress Monroe was 
detained at Baltimore by order of Colonel Lee. With two 
howitzers and ninety men Green left Washington for Harper's 
Ferry, at 3 :30 p. m. En route he received orders from Colonel 
Lee to stop at Sandy Hook, a station within a mile, nearly, of 
his destination. At 10 o'clock Lee arrived at Sandy Hook on 
a special train. The marines were then formed, and marched 
to Harper's Ferry, leaving the howitzers aboard the cars. Ar- 
riving at the town, after consultation with the volunteer com- 
manders present, Lee ordered the militia to vacate the armory 
grounds, and put the control, or care of the situation, in the 
hands of Lieutenant Green. 

Before ordering the assault upon the engine-house, which, 
to save the lives of Brown's prisoners, was to be executed with 
the bayonet, Lee offered the honor of commanding the action 
to the regimental commanders of the volunteers : Colonel 
Shriver of the Maryland troops and Colonel Baylor of the Vir- 
ginians; an offer which both of these officers, in behalf of their 
men, had the moral courage to wisely and properly decline. 
Colonel Shriver said, in effect, that they had come to help the 
people of Harper's Ferry in an emergency ; that the emergency, 
in view of the United States troops present, was now passed ; 
that his men had wives and children at home, and since it was 
not necessary to expose them to such risk as this attack involved, 
he would not voluntarily do so. Colonel Baylor expressed 
similar views. But, later, there was trouble over the matter. 
The pride of the Governor of Virginia, Henry E. Wise, was 
hurt because the Virginia troops had not done on the 17th what 



THE FIASCO 309 

Lee, Stuart, Green, and the marines did so creditably on the 
morning of the 18th. As a result, charges of misconduct were 
preferred against Colonel Baylor, by Mr. O. Jennings Wise, a 
son of the Governor; and a court of inquiry was convened in 
June, 1860, to investigate the case. Mr. Villard states that in 
a letter addressed to the court, by Mr. Wise, the latter charged 
that Colonel Baylor had assumed command on the 17th, "con- 
trary to his grade and the nature of his commission." That 
he had acted without orders ; that he was guilty of cowardice in 
not storming the engine-house, and of "unofficer-like conduct 
in assigning a false, cowardly and insulting reason for not lead- 
ing the attack on the engine-house when the service was offered 
to him by Colonel Lee : to-wit — that it was a duty which be- 
longed to the mercenaries of the regular service — meaning 
the marines — who were paid for it" ; and, finally for using 
"violent and ungentlemanly language about his Commander-in- 
Chief (Governor Wise)." 

After the militia officers had declined the command of the 
storming party, it was offered to Lieutenant Green, who, of 
course, accepted it, and, taking off his cap, thanked his com- 
mander for the honor, with soldierly courtesy. 

Early on the morning of the 18th, Colonel Lee sent a de- 
mand upon Brown to surrender, which was read to him at the 
door of the engine-house by Lieutenant Stuart. The order read 

as follows : 372 , 

Headquarters Harper s Ferry, 

October 18, 1859. 

Colonel Lee, United States Army, commanding the troops, 
sent by the United States to suppress the insurrection at this 
place, demands the surrender of the persons in the armory 
buildings. 

If they will peaceably surrender themselves and restore the 
pillaged property, they shall be kept in safety to await the 
orders of the President. Colonel Lee represents to them, in 
all frankness, that it is impossible for them to escape ; that the 

372 Mason Report, 43. 



310 JOHN BROWN: A CRITIQUE 

armory is surrounded on all sides by troops ; and that if he is 
compelled to take them by force, he cannot answer for their 
safety. R. E. LEE, 

Colonel Commanding United States Troops. 

It had been agreed upon between Stuart and Green, that, 
after having read the order to Brown, if he should refuse to 
surrender, as they supposed he would, Stuart would then signal 
by a wave of his cap, at the sight of which Green would order 
his company forward to the assault. His plan of attack was to 
advance with twelve men, holding another twelve in reserve 
to support them, if they should be disabled, and with a heavy 
sledge-hammer break down the door of the engine-house, and 
if successful, then, with the full command rush the insurgents 
with fixed bayonets. Upon seeing the signal agreed upon, 
Green ordered the attack. While being fired upon from within 
the engine-house, the marines, armed with the sledge, attempted 
to beat down the doors, but without success ; then seeing a heavy 
ladder lying nearby, Green ordered some of the men to take it 
up and use it against the doors as a battering-ram. This ex- 
pedient was successful. Two blows by the improvised engine 
of war sufficed to break a ragged hole, low down, in the right- 
hand door. Through the opening thus made, Green, and Major 
Russell, pay-master, United States Marine Corps, sprang, fol- 
lowed by the enlisted men. 373 Rising to his feet, Green ran 
back of the engine to the rear of the room, where he saw Colonel 
Washington, who, pointing to Brown said, "this is Osawato- 
mie." Lieutenant Green states : 

When Colonel Washington said to me, "This is Osawa- 
tomie," Brown turned his head to see who it was to whom 
Colonel Washington was speaking. Quicker than thought, 
I brought my sabre down with all my strength, upon his 
head. He was moving as the blow fell, and I suppose I 
did not strike him where I intended, for he received a deep 
sabre cut on the back of his neck. He fell senseless on his 

373 Major Russell was in citizen's clothes and unarmed. 



THE FIASCO 311 

side, then rolled over on his back. He had in his hand a 
short Sharp's Cavalry carbine. I think he had just fired 
as I reached Colonel Washington, for the marine who follow- 
ed me into the aperture made by the ladder, received a bullet 
in the abdomen from which he died in a few minutes. The 
shot might have been fired by some one else in the party, but 
I think it came from Brown. Instantly, as Brown fell, I 
gave him a sabre thrust in the left breast. The sword I car- 
ried was a light uniform weapon and either not having a 
point, or striking something hard in Brown's accouterments, 
did not penetrate. The blade bent double. By that time 
three or four of my men were inside. They came rushing in 
like tigers, as a storming assault is not a play-day sport. 
They bayoneted one man, skulking under the engine, and 
pinned another fellow up against the rear wall, both being 
killed instantly. I ordered the men to spill no more blood. 
The other insurgents were at once taken under arrest, and 
the contest ended. The whole fight had not lasted over 
three minutes. 374 

Of Brown's eleven prisoners, whom he was holding as 
hostages, Lieutenant Green says : 

They were the sorriest lot of people I ever saw. They 
had been without food for over sixty hours, in constant dread 
of being shot, and were huddled up in the corner where lay 
the body of Brown's son and one or two others of the insur- 
gents who had been killed. 

The scrimmage being over. Green and Coppoc were taken 
into custody, and the dead and wounded were carried from the 
engine-house and laid upon the armory lawn, where they were 
protected from violence by a guard detailed from the company 
of marines. Later, Mr. Villard states. Brown was carried to 
the office of the pay-master of the armory and there given medi- 
cal attention, when it was found that his wounds were far less 
serious than they were at first supposed to be. 

Of the twenty-two ambitious men who courageously under- 
374 North American Review, December, 188?. 



312 JOHN BROWN: A CRITIQUE 

took to organize the "Provisional Army," ten had been killed : 
Kagi, Oliver Brown, Watson Brown, William Thompson, 
Dauphin Thompson, Jeremiah G. Anderson, Leeman, Newby, 
Leary, and Taylor. Five were prisoners : Brown, Stevens, 
E. Coppoc, Green, and Copeland. Seven had got away : Cook, 
Hazlett, Tidd, Owen Brown, Barclay Coppoc, Osborn P. An- 
derson, and Merriam. 

Those killed and wounded by the insurgents were as follows : 
Killed : G. W. Turner, Thomas Boerley, Fontane Beckham, 
Heywood Shepherd, and Private Ouinn. Wounded : Mr. 
Murphy, Mr. Young, Mr. Richardson, Mr. Hammond, Mr. 
McCabe, Mr. Dorsey, Mr. Hooper, Mr. Woolet, and Private 
Rupert. 375 

About noon, on the 18th, some notable persons of that period 
arrived at Harper's Ferry, anxious to know the facts relating 
to the alarming events which had taken place. An interview 
with Brown was accordingly arranged, which was held at the 
office of the armory pay-master. The wounded Stevens had, 
in the meantime, been carried into the office and laid upon a 
mattress on the floor beside Brown. Those present were Gov- 
ernor Wise, of Virginia, Colonel Robert E. Lee, Lieutenant 
Stuart, Senator Mason of Virginia, Congressmen Vallandig- 
ham of Ohio and Faulkner of Virginia, Colonel Lewis Wash- 
ington, Andrew Hunter, special counsel for the State of Vir- 
ginia, and a half dozen citizens of the town and vicinity. Brown 
was able to answer freely, and seemed anxious for an oppor- 
tunity to present his version of the situation to the public. He 
was "glad," he said, "to make himself and his motives clearly 
understood." Extracts from this interview are as follows: 376 

Senator Mason. Can you tell us who furnished money 
for your expedition? 

375 Report of Colonel Lee to Secretary of War, Mason Report, 40. 
An excellent account of what occurred under Brown's immediate direc- 
tion during the 17th and 18th, was given out by Mr. J. E. P. Dangerfield 
and published in the Century Magazine, June, 1885. 

370 Sanborn, 562-569. 



THE FIASCO 313 

John Brown. I furnished most of it myself; I cannot im- 
plicate others. It is my own folly that I have been taken. I 
could easily have saved myself from it, had I exercised my 
own better judgment rather than yielded to my feelings. 

Mason. You mean if you had escaped immediately? 

Brown. No. I had the means to make myself secure 
without any escape; but I allowed myself to be surrounded 
by a force by being too tardy. I should have gone away ; but 
I had thirty odd prisoners, whose wives and daughters were 
in tears for their safety, and I felt for them. Besides, I 
wanted to allay the fears of those who believed we came here 
to burn and kill. For this reason I allowed the train to 
cross the bridge, and gave them full liberty to pass on. I did 
it only to spare the feelings of those passengers and their 
families, and to allay the apprehensions that you had got here 
in your vicinity a band of men who had no regard for life 
and property, nor any feelings of humanity. 

Mason. But you killed some people passing along the 
streets quietly. 

Brown. Well, sir, if there was anything of that kind done, 
it was without my knowledge. Your own citizens who were 
my prisoners will tell you that every possible means was 
taken to prevent it. I did not allow my men to fire when 
there was danger of killing those we regarded as innocent 
persons, if I could help it. They will tell you that we allowed 
ourselves to be fired at repeatedly, and did not return it. 

A Bystander. That is not so. You killed an unarmed 
man at the corner of the house over there at the water-tank, 
and another besides. 

Brown. See here, my friend ; it is useless to dispute or 
contradict the report of your own neighbors who were my 
prisoners. 

.1/?-. Vallandigham (who had just entered.) Mr. Brown, 
who sent you here? 

Brown. No man sent me here ; it was my own prompting 
and that of my Maker, or that of the Devil — whichever you 



314 JOHN BROWN: A CRITIQUE 

please to ascribe it to. I acknowledge no master in human 
form. 



Vallandigham. Did you get up this document that is 
called a Constitution? 

Brown. I did. They are a constitution and ordinance 
of my own striving and getting up. 

Vallandigham. How long have you been engaged in this 
business? 

Brotvn. From the breaking out of the difficulties in Kan- 
sas. Four of my sons had gone there to settle, and they in- 
duced me to go. I did not go there to settle, but because of 
the difficulties. 

Mason. What was your object in coming? 
Brown. We came to free the slaves, and only that. 

A Volunteer. What in the world did you suppose you 
could do here in Virginia with that amount of men? 

Brown. Young man, I do not wish to discuss that ques- 
tion here. 

Volunteer. You could not do anything. 

Brown. Well, perhaps your ideas and mine on military 
subjects would differ materially. 

Mason. Did you consider this a military organization in 
this Constitution? I have not yet read it. 

Brown. I did in some sense. I wis_h you would give 
'that paper close attention. 

Mason. You consider yourself the commander-in-chief 
of these "provisional" military forces? 

Brown. I was chosen, agreeably to the ordinance of a 
certain document, commander-in-chief of that force. 

Mason. What wages did you offer? 

Brown. None. 

Stuart. "The wages of sin is death." 



THE FIASCO 315 

Brown. I would not have made such a remark to you if 
you had been a prisoner, and wounded, in my hands. 

A Bystander. Do you consider this a religious move- 
ment ? 

Brown. It is, in my opinion, the greatest service man can 
render to God. 

Bystander. Do you consider yourself an instrument in 
the hands of Providence? 

Brozvn. I do. 

Bystander. Upon what principle do you justify your acts ? 

Brown. Upon the Golden Rule. I pity the poor in bond- 
age that have none to help them : that is why I am here ; not 
to gratify any personal animosity, revenge, or vindictive 
spirit. It is my sympathy with the oppressed and the wrong- 
ed, that are as good as you and as precious in the sight of God. 

Bystander. Certainly. But why take the slaves against 
their will? 

Brozvn. I never did. 

Bystander. You did in one instance, at least. 

Stephens, the other wounded prisoner, here said, "You are 
right. In one case I know the negro wanted to go back." 

Vol 'kin dig ham. How far did you live from Jefferson? 

Brown. Be cautious, Stephens, about any answers that 
would commit any friend. I would not answer that. 

(Stephens turned partially over with a groan of pain, and 
was silent.) 

VaUandigham. -Who are your advisers in this movement? 

Brozvn. I cannot answer that. I have numerous sym- 
pathizers throughout the entire North. 

VaUandigham. In northern Ohio? 

Brozvn. No more there than anywhere else ; in all the free 
States. 

Bystander. Why did you do it secretly? 



316 JOHN BROWN: A CRITIQUE 

Brown. Because I thought that necessary to success ; no 
other reason. 

Bystander. Have you read Gerrit Smith's last letter? 

Brown. What letter do you mean? 

Bystander. The "New York HeraM" of yesterday, in 
speaking of this affair, mentions a letter in this way : 

"Apropos of this exciting news, we recollect a very sig- 
nificant passage in one of Gerrit Smith's letters, published a 
month or two ago, in which he speaks of the folly of attempt- 
ing to strike the shackles off the slaves by the force of moral 
suasion or legal agitation, and predicts that the next move- 
ment made in the direction of negro emancipation would be 
an insurrection in the South." 

Brown. I have not seen the "New York Herald" for some 
days past ; but I presume, from your remark about the gist of 
the letter, that I should concur with it. I agree with Mr. 
Smith that moral suasion is hopeless. I don't think the peo- 
ple of the slave States will ever consider the subject of slav- 
ery in its true light till some other argument is resorted to 
than moral suasion. 

Vallandigham. Did you expect a general rising of the 
slaves in case of your success? 

Brown. No, sir; nor did I wish it. I expected to gather 
them up from time to time, and set them free. 

Vallandigham. Did you expect to hold possession here 
till then? 

Brown. Well, probably I had quite a different idea. I 
do not know that I ought to reveal my plans. I am here a 
prisoner and wounded, because I foolishly allowed myself 
to be so. You overrate your strength in supposing I could 
have been taken if I had not allowed it. I was too tardy 
after commencing the open attack — in delaying my move- 
ments through Monday night, and up to the time I was at- 
tacked by the Government troops. It was all occasioned by 
my desire to spare the feelings of my prisoners and their fam- 
ilies and the community at large. I had no knowledge of the 
shooting of the negro Heywood. 



THE FIASCO 317 



Dr. Biggs. Were you in the party at Dr. Kennedy's 
house? 

Brown. I was at the head of that party. I occupied the 
house to mature my plans. I have not been in Baltimore to 
purchase caps. 

Q. Where did you get arms? A. I bought them. 

Q. In what State? A. That I will not state. 

Q. How many guns? A. Two hundred Sharpe's rifles 
and two hundred revolvers, — what is called the Massachu- 
setts Arms Company's revolvers, a little under navy size. 

Q. Why did you not take that swivel you left in the 
house? A. I had no occasion for it. It was given to me a 
year or two ago. 

Q. In Kansas? A. No. I had nothing given to me in 
Kansas. 

Q. By whom, and in what State? A. I decline to an- 
swer ; it is not properly a swivel ; it is a very large rifle 
with a pivot. The ball is larger than a musket ball ; it is in- 
tended for a slug. 

Reporter. I do not wish to annoy you ; but if you have 
anything further you would like to say, I will report it. 

Brown. I have nothing to say, only that I claim to be 
here in carrying out a measure I believe perfectly justifiable, 
and not to act the part of an incendiary or ruffian, but to aid 
those suffering great wrong. I wish to say, furthermore, 
that you had better — all you people at the South — prepare 
yourselves for a settlement of this question, that must come 
up for settlement sooner than you are prepared for it. The 
sooner you are prepared the better. You may dispose of me 
very easily, — I am nearly disposed of now ; but this question 
is still to be settled, — this negro question I mean ; the end of 
that is not yet. These wounds were inflicted upon me — 
both sabre cuts on my head and bayonet stabs in different 
parts of my body — some minutes after I had ceased fight- 
ing and had consented to surrender, for the benefit of others, 



318 JOHN BROWN: A CRITIQUE 

not for my own. I believe the Major would not have been 
alive ; I could have killed him just as easy as a mosquito when 
he came in to receive our surrender. There had been loud 
and long calls of "surrender" from us, — as loud as men 
could yell ; but in the confusion and excitement I suppose we 
were not heard. I do not think the Major, or any one, meant 
to butcher us after we had surrendered. 

An Officer. Why did you not surrender before the at- 
tack? 

Brown. I did not think it was my duty or interest to do 
so. We assured the prisoners that we did not wish to harm 
them, and they should be set at liberty. I exercised my best 
judgment, not believing the people would wantonly sacrifice 
their own fellow-citizens, when we offered to let them go on 
condition of being allowed to change our position about a 
quarter of a mile. The prisoners agreed by a vote among 
themselves to pass across the bridge with us. We wanted 
them only as a sort of guarantee of our own safety, — that 
we should not be fired into. We took them, in the first 
place, as hostages and to keep them from doing any harm. 
We did kill some men in defending ourselves, but I saw no 
one fire except directly in self-defense. Our orders were 
strict not to harm any one not in arms against us. 

Q. Brown, suppose you had every nigger in the United 
States, what would you do with them? A. Set them free. 

Q. Your intention was to carry them off and free them? 
A. Not at all. 

A Bystander. To set them free would sacrifice the life of 
every man in this community. 

Brown. I do not think so. 

Bystander. I know it. I think you are fanatical. 

Brown. And I think you are fanatical. "Whom the gods 
would destroy they first made mad," and you are mad. 

Q. Was your only object to free the negroes? A. Ab- 
solutely our only object. 

Q. But you demanded and took Colonel Washington's 
silver and watch? A. Yes; we intended freely to appro- 
priate the property of slaveholders to carry out our object. 



THE FIASCO 319 

It was for that, and only that, and with no design to enrich 
ourselves with any plunder whatever. 

Bystander. Did you know Sherrod in Kansas? I under- 
stand you killed him. 

Brown. I killed no man except in fair fight. I fought 
at Black Jack Point and at Osawatomie ; and if I killed any- 
body, it was at one of these places. 

Mx. Sanborn publishes a conversation that Brown had with 
his jailer concerning his interview with Governor Wise. 371 

" 'A Virginian,' " he says, "gives me this addition to Brown's 
conversation with Wise" : 

Jailer. I see in the papers that you told Governor Wise 
you had promises of aid from Virginia, Tennessee, and the 
Carolinas. Is that true, or did you make it up to "rile" the 
old Governor? 

Brown. No; I did not tell Wise that. 

Jailer. What did you tell him that could have made that 
impression on his mind? 

Bronni. Wise said something about fanaticism, and inti- 
mated that no man in full possession of his senses could 
have expected to overcome a State with such a handful of 
men as I had, backed only by struggling negroes ; and I re- 
plied that I had promises of ample assistance, and would 
have received it too if I could only have set the ball in mo- 
tion. He then asked suddenly in a harsh voice, as you've 
seen lawyers snap up a witness : "Assistance ! From what 
State, sir?" I was not thrown off my guard, and replied: 
"From more than you'd believe if I should name them all ; 
but I expected more from Virginia, Tennessee, and the 
Carolinas than from any others." 

Jailer. You "expected" it. You did not say it was prom- 
ised from the States named ? 

Brown. No; I knew, of course, that the negroes would 
rally to my standard. If I had only got the thing fairly 
started, you Virginians would have seen sights that would 
have opened your eyes ; and I tell you if I was free this mo- 

377 Sanborn, 571, note 1. 



320 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 

ment, and had five hundred negroes around me, I would put 
these irons on Wise himself before Saturday night. 

JaiDer. Then it was true about aid being promised ? What 
States promised it? 

Brown (with a laugh). Well, you are about as smart a 
man as Wise, and I'll give you the same answer I gave him. 

A reporter for the New York Herald who was present said 
of Brown : 37S "He converses freely, fluently and cheerfully, 
without the slightest manifestation of fear or uneasiness, evi- 
dently weighing well his words, and possessing a good com- 
mand of language. His manner is courteous and affable, while 
he appears to be making a favorable impression upon his audi- 
tory." 

' A reporter for the Baltimore American who was present at 
the interview said : 379 "No sign of weakness was exhibited by 
John Brown. In the midst of his enemies, whose homes he had 
invaded ; wounded and a prisoner, surrounded by a small army 
of officials, and a more desperate army of angry men ; with the 
gallows staring him full in the face, he lay on the floor, and, in 
reply to every question, gave answers that betokened the spirit 
that animated him. The language of Gov. Wise well expresses 
his boldness when he said, 'He is the gamest man I ever saw.' " 
During the afternoon of the 18th, while the interview with 
Brown was in progress, Mr. John C. Unseld accompanied Lieu- 
tenant Green, with a detachment of marines, to Brown's recent 
headquarters at the Kennedy farm, where a quantity of war 
material was found, including bed clothing, canvas for tents, 
some axes, two cast-iron hominy mills, a good deal of clothing 
boxed up — new clothing for men, and some boots. Here also 
they found Brown's trunk containing his official papers and 
correspondence ; copies of the constitution for the Provisional 
Government and other important documents ; also maps of Ken- 
tucky, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, South Caro- 

•« Villard, 456. 
3 " 9 Ibid. 



THE FIASCO 321 

lina, Florida, and Georgia. Each map had a slip pasted on the 
side, evidently cut from the census report of 1850, showing the 
number and kind of inhabitants (whether free or slave, white 
or black, male or female) in each county of the State or States 
which it represented. On the maps of South Carolina, Ala- 
bama, Mississippi, and Georgia, there were various ink-marks 
in the shape of crosses at different points. 3S0 With the consent of 
Brown, John E. Cook had taken a similar census of the inhab- 
itants living in the vicinity of Harper's Ferry. 381 

On the morning of the 19th the military stores that had been 
transferred to the school-house, on Monday, from the Kennedy 
farm, were taken possession of by the "Baltimore Greys," a 
company belonging to the Maryland regiment present, under the 
command of Lietutenant Colonel Mills. Among them were 
the following articles : 382 

102 Sharp's Rifles 3 Gross Steel Pens 

10 Kegs Gunpowder 5 Ink Stands 

23000 Percussion Rifle Caps 21 Lead Pencils 

100000 Percussion Pistol Caps 34 Pen Holders 

13000 Sharp's Rifle Cartridges 2 Boxes Wafers 

483 Pikes 47 Small Blank Books 

16 Picks 

40 Shovels (The railroad waybill called for several doz- 
en, showing that more were to come) 
On Wednesday morning, October 19th, the prisoners were 
safely transferred to Charlestown, under an escort of marines 
commanded by Lieutenant Green. Upon their arrival there 
they were delivered into the custody of the sheriff of Jefferson 
County and the United States marshal for the Western District 
of Virginia, and by them placed in the county jail. Brown and 
Stevens, being unable to walk, were transferred to and from 
the train, in a wagon. 

380 Mason Report. Testimony of Andrew Hunter. 
33i Mason Report, 63-66. 
382 Redpath, 269. 



322 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 

The comments of the press of the country, upon the occur- 
rences herein, however interesting they may be, are not espe- 
cially valuable. The writers of the time had but little correct 
information upon which to base their opinion as to the scope of 
the undertaking. Even at the present time, after the lapse of 
more than fifty years, opinion is divided as to whether this in- 
cident in our history was just an altruistic "Foray into Virgin- 
ia' ; or whether it was, practically, a harmless and utterly sense- 
less "raid" or whether it was an organized reality — an inva- 
sion of the State of Virginia by Brown and his captains, having 
for their object, the conquest of the Southern States. 



CHAPTER XIV 

A PERVERSION OF HISTORY 

But many a man has committed his greatest blunder when 
attempting to write a book. — John Brown, Jr. 

Concerning the things which Brown intended to do, and the 
plans which he made in pursuance thereof Mr. Redpath says : 38 
It was the original intention of Captain Brown to seize 
the Arsenal at Harper's Ferry on the night of the 24th of 
October, and to take the arms there deposited to the neigh- 
boring mountains, with a number of the wealthier citizens of 
the vicinity, as hostages, until they should redeem themselves 
by liberating an equal number of their slaves. When at 
Baltimore, for satisfactory reasons, he determined to strike 
the blow that was to shake the Slave System to its founda- 
tions, on the night of the 17th. 

. . . Harper's Ferry, by the admission of military men, 
was admirably chosen as the spot at which to begin a war of 
liberation. The neighboring mountains, with their inacces- 
sible fastnesses, with every one of which, and every turning 
of their valleys, John Brown had been familiar for seventeen 
years, would afford to guerrilla forces a protection the most 
favorable, and a thousand opportunities for a desperate de- 
fense or rapid retreats before overwhelming numbers of an 
enemy. 

This is the conception of the Harper's Ferry episode that 
Brown's family, and his partisans, decided should be put forth 
concerning an incident which was to have been written in 
streams of blood, such as never flowed upon the continent. 
That anything so irrational should have been published, or 
3 83 Redpath, 243-246. 

21 



324 JOHN BROWN: A CRITIQUE 

should have been seriously considered by any one, is beyond the 
comprehension of thoughtful persons ; and yet, the foolish fic- 
tions therein suggested were accepted as the truth in the 
Northern States, and, with some modifications of the more gro- 
tesque absurdities therein contained, have been approved by 
subsequent writers and biographers and have been incorporated 
with the history of our country. 

Why Brown should have intended to abandon Harper's 
Ferry without a struggle to retain it after having taken formal 
possession of the place and of the war material stored there, if 
the position was admirably chosen as the spot at which to begin 
a war of liberation ; or how a voluntary retreat into the moun- 
tains by a band of twenty-two men could be regarded as a 
"blow" of any kind ; or where the inaccessible fastness which 
he intended to retreat to was located ; or how he intended to 
shelter and subsist his men and prisoners in an inaccessible fast- 
ness that had not been supplied with subsistence stores or with 
camp and garrison equipage of any description; or how he 
would be able to find his way, if the night happened to be a dark 
night, up and through the tangled obstructions upon which the 
fastness relied for its inaccessibility ; or how he intended to 
transport the military equipment stored at Harper's Ferry, to 
the fastness, without means of transportation, or roads to travel 
on ; or how he intended to prevent his fastness from being sur- 
rounded and his communications with the world cut off while 
the altruistic negotiations for the "exchange of the wealthier 
citizen prisoners for an equal number of slaves," were progres- 
sing, appear to have been matters of no concern to this bi- 
ographer. It was sufficient for his purpose to assume that 
these things, however inconsistent they might be, were the 
things which Brown intended to do, and that they constituted 
the blow which he had promised to strike. Mr. Redpath, per- 
sonally, knew what Brown intended to do. He knew that 
Brown, pursuant to his pledges, planned to strike a blow that 
would shake the center of the slave system ; that he planned to 



A PERVERSION OF HISTORY 325 

precipitate a war of surpassing atrocity ; a war that was to begin 
with a carnival of assassinations ; that he intended "to assail 
slavery with the only weapon that it fears" : 384 a servile insur- 
rection. 

Mr. Sanborn had been a valuable instrument in Brown's 
hands for the practice of his Eastern impositions. Taking his 
cue from Mr. Redpath, after describing what occurred on the 
night of the 16th of October, he rises to the full height of his 
conception of the occasion to inquire: 

Why then did Brown attack Harper's Ferry, or having 
captured it, why did he not leave it at once and push into the 
mountains of Virginia, according to his original plan? 335 
It was to this Mr. Sanborn, that Brown first suggested his 
scheme to raise $30,000 cash, to arm and equip a company of 
"fifty volunteer-regulars" for the defense of Kansas settlers. 
Mr. Sanborn was impressed, deeply so, and undertook to pro- 
mote the proposition. Also, he undertook to promote Brown's 
scheme to have the Legislatures of Massachusetts and New 
York appropriate $100,000 each, to reimburse the Brown fam- 
ily for losses its members had sustained while "fighting" in 
Kansas; and .ever thereafter had been Brown's faithful and 
efficient servant. He was a member of the "Secret War Com- 
mittee" of six, and had reason to think, and probably did think, 
that Brown had taken him into his full confidence. He says : 
Although Brown communicated freely to the four persons 
just named, — Theodore Parker, Dr. Howe, Mr. Stearns 
and Col. Higginson, — his plans of attack and defense in 
Virginia, it is not known that he spoke to any but me of his 
purpose to surprise the Arsenal and town of Harper's Fer- 
ry. . . It is probable that in 1858 Brown had not def- 
initely resolved to seize Harper's Ferry ; yet he spoke of it to 
me beside his coal fire in the American House, putting it as a 
question, rather, without expressing his own purpose. I 
questioned him a little about it ; but it then passed from my 

38* Redpath, 8. 
sss Sanborn, 556. 



326 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 

mind, and I did not think of it again until the attack had been 
made a year and a half afterwards. 386 

Thus Mr. Sanborn acknowledges that Brown had not en- 
trusted to him the secret of his intentions, and thereby disqual- 
ifies himself as an authority upon Brown's plans, or as having 
correct information concerning what he intended to do in Vir- 
ginia. It is more than probable that upon the occasion to which 
Mr. Sanborn refers, Brown contemplated confiding to him his 
plans for the conquest of the South by means of an insurrection 
of the slaves and the massacre of the slave-holding population, 
and intended to offer him a position upon his staff. Brown 
and Forbes had laid plans for their campaign, with Harper's 
Ferry as the base of operations, as early as January, 1857, and 
in pursuance thereof had ordered the thousand spears with 
which to arm the blacks for the opening horror. 

Sitting beside his coal fire in the American House, his 
thoughts upon his plans, and the hopes of his mighty conquest 
surging in his brain, John Brown, the grim Soldier of Fortune, 
drew out his young companion by indirection, and took the 
measure of his capacity for heroic undertakings. Had the young 
man, at the close of that interview, appealed for an omen "from 
that shrine whose oracles may destroy but can never deceive," 
he might, in a spiritual vision, have seen upon the invisible tab- 
lets, where Brown's mental records were kept, an inscription, 
or word, similar to that which Belshazzar saw traced upon the 
wall by the finger of an invisible hand. The man of "blood and 
iron" had invited the interview in his letter to Mr. Sanborn of 
February 24th. 387 Brown's decision was adverse to Mr. San- 
born. The latter did not suspect that he had passed through 
the fire of an examination, and had been found deficient. The 
subject was never again taken up ; the door of opportunity closed 
against Mr. Sanborn. 

386 Sanborn, 450. 

387 Ante, note 281. 



A PERVERSION OF HISTORY 327 

Following the trail blazed by a discredited predecessor, the 
writer of Fifty Years After abandons the teachings which the 
record discloses concerning this episode, and, concurring with 
Mr. Redpath, tries to confirm in our history that author's per- 
version of the facts relating to it. He assumes to believe, and 
seeks to teach the public to believe, that Brown's plans were, 
comparatively, crude, and that his movement in execution of 
them was of a harmless nature ; that he merely intended to at- 
tempt to carry on a guerrilla warfare from some point in the 
nearby mountains, and that his entrance to Harper's Ferry was 
not an occupation of the place but a "raid" upon it, undertaken 
for the purpose of advertising, in a spectacular way, the guer- 
rilla warfare which he intended to engage in. He says : 388 
As for their general, he not only was the sole member of 
the attacking force to believe in the assault on the property 
of the United States at Harper's Ferry, but he was, as they 
neared the all-unsuspecting town, without any clear and 
definite plan of campaign. The general order detailed the 
men who were to garrison various parts of the town and hold 
the bridges, but beyond that, little had been mapped out. It 
was all to depend upon the orders of the commander-in- 
chief, who seemed bent on violating every military principle. 
Thus, he had appointed no definite place for the men to re- 
treat to, and fixed no hour for the withdrawal from the 
town. He, moreover, proceeded at once to defy the canons 
by placing a river between himself and his base of supplies, 
— the Kennedy Farm, — and then left no adequate force on 
the river-bank to insure his being able to fall back to that 
base. Hardly had he entered the town when, by dispersing 
his men here and there, he made his defeat as easy as possible. 
Moreover, he had in mind no well-defined purpose in attack- 
ing Harper's Ferry, save to begin his revolution in a spectac- 
ular way, capture a few slaveholders and release some slaves. 
So far as he had thought anything out, he expected to alarm 
the town and then, with the slaves that had rallied to him, 



ass Villard, 427, 430l 



328 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 

to march back to the school-house near the Kennedy Farm, 
arm his recruits and take to the hills. Another general, with 
the same purpose in view would have established his moun- 
tain camp first, swooped down upon the town in order to 
spread terror throughout the State, and in an hour or two, at 
most, have started back to his hill-top fastness. . 
Hence, he confidently hoped to retire to the mountains before 
catching sight of a soldier of the regular army or of the 
militia, — by no means un unjustifiable expectation. . . 
The danger to any raiding force would come from losing 
possession of these bridges, in which case the sole means of 
escape would be by swimming the rivers or climbing up 
through the town toward Bolivar Heights, in the direction 
of Charlestown, eight miles away. 

By the gratuitous and irrelevant assumptions herein, this bi- 
ographer discredits Brown's intelligence; and by unjust, unfair, 
and illogical criticisms of his conduct, seeks to conceal and to 
emasculate his intentions. Authenticated facts place limitations 
upon the presumptions of historians, which challenge the con- 
sistency of reckless statements, and the logic of their conclu- 
sions concerning them. There is not an authenticated line in 
this history which justifies a belief that Brown contemplated do- 
ing the things which this author assumes that he intended to do. 
His theory' that the occupation of Harper's Ferry was merely 
an incident in a raid, the first one of a series of undertakings in 
guerrilla warfare, which he represents Brown as intending to 
execute from a location within walking distance of the town, 
is a reflection upon the sanity of every person connected with 
the movement. It is an assumption that Brown and his men 
believed that they could maintain a headquarters for such war- 
fare in the Maryland hills — at a "hill-top fastness," if you 
please — and not be "run to earth at once," as the author states 
Cook would have been, if he had attempted to hide in these 
inhospitable hills. 389 It is also a general denial of the historical 

s 89 Villard, 469. 



A PERVERSION OF HISTORY 329 

truth that Brown intended to invade Virginia and the Southern 
States, and to establsh over them the jurisdiction of a provi- 
sional government. Moreover, it is so divergent from the les- 
sons taught by the vast accumulation of authenticated facts 
which relate to the matter, that it constitutes a contradiction of 
the facts, and raises a question as to the integrity of the au- 
thor's purpose in putting it forth. 

There is no room in historical literature for the indulgence 
of poetic license. If Brown was a man of "blood and iron," 
and his men "hard-headed Americans" one day, they must be 
regarded as being such the next day, and every day. It may be 
said, upon the authority of this author, that Brown and his men 
were not the stupids which they are, in this instance, represented 
as being. "Captains John H. Kagi and A. D. Stevens, bravest 
of the brave" 390 were not words idly spoken. "The hard-headed 
able Americans like Stevens, Kagi, Cook, and Gill, who lived 
with John Brown month in and month out worshipped no 
lunatic." 391 Grafter! Hypocrite! Fiend! Monster! Brown 
was, but never a trifler. If he ever engaged in a trifling enter- 
prise or attempted to do anything in a trifling manner or upon 
a trifline scale, it has not been recorded. First, last, and all the 
time he played the limit of his resources. And in the execution 
of this venture — the climax of all his undertakings — he was 
neither trifling nor juggling with its details, as his biographers 
have persisted in doing with his motives, and with what his in- 
tentions and his plans were, in these premises. 

Brown was not advertising his revolution when he secretly 
entered Harper's Ferry. These men were not baiting Death 
for spectacular effect. They had a well defined purpose in 
view, but it was not to "capture a few slave-holders and release 
some slaves." To Daniel Wheelan, Brown stated the purpose of 
his coming : "I want to free all the negroes in this State : 1 



390 Villard, 427. 
39iVillard, 510. 



330 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 

have possession now of the United States Armory, and if the 
citizens interfere with me I must only burn the town and have 
blood." Conductor Phelps said: "They say they have come 
to free the slaves and intend to do it at all hazards." Mr. W. H. 
Seibert states that Kagi told him personally, that their purpose 
was "not the expatriation of one slave or a thousand slaves, but 
their liberation in the states wherein they were born and were 
now held in bondage." 392 

To Governor Wise and others, on the afternoon of October 
18th, Brown stated that his purpose in being at Harper's Ferry 
would be found in the constitution for the Provisional Govern- 
ment. A copy of the document being produced, he requested 
Governor Wise to read it, and said that "within a fortnight he 
intended to have it published at large and distributed" ; an act 
which he could not have intended to execute from a location in 
any "hill-top fastness." In reply to questions, he stated that he 
intended to put the Provisional Government into operation 
"here, in Virginia, where I commenced operations" ; that he ex- 
pected to have "three or five thousand" men or as many as he 
wanted to assist him. He stated "distinctly" that he did not in- 
tend to run off any slaves, but that he "designed to put arms in 
their hands to defend themselves against their masters, and to 
maintain their position in Virginia and in the South. That in 
the first instance he expected they and non-slave holding whites 
would flock to his standard as soon as he got a footing there at 
Harper's Ferry ; and, as his strength increased, he would grad- 
ually enlarge the area under his control, "furnishing a refuge for 
the slaves and a rendezvous for all whites who were disposed to 
aid him, until eventually he over-ran the whole South." 393 

January 5, 1860, Mr. John C. Unseld, one of Brown's pris- 
oners testified : 

I asked him why he made his attack on Virginia and at the 

place he did? His answer was: "I knew there were a 



392 The Underground Railroad, 167. 

393 Mason Report, 63-66. Testimony of Andrew Hunter. 



A PERVERSION OF HISTORY 331 

great many guns there that would be of service to me, and, 
if I could conquer Virginia, the balance of the Southern 
States would nearly conquer themselves, there being such a 
large number of slaves in them. 394 

Brown abandoned the Kennedy farm on October 16th and 
gave orders to Cook to remove the supplies to a school-house 
which was located within about a mile of Harper's Ferry. On 
the morning of the 17th the latter peremptorily dismissed the 
school and took possession of the building. To the teacher, 
M,r. L. F. Currie. Cook explained what they were doing and 
how they intended to do it. Mr. Currie, in his testimony before 
the Mason Committee stated that Cook, Tidd, and Leeman, 
having a Mr. Byrne in charge as a prisoner, came to the school- 
house about 10 o'clock and demanded possession of it. They 
then with the aid of some negroes unloaded several boxes and 
a large black trunk from a wagon and carried them into the 
school-house. Continuing he said : 

Cook said their intention was to free the negroes ; that 
they intended to adopt such measures as would effectually 
free them, though he said nothing about running them off, 
or anything of that kind. He said this too: That those 
slave-holders who would give up their slaves voluntarily, 
would meet with protection ; but those who refused to give 
them up would be quartered upon and their property con- 
fiscated, — used in such a way as they might think proper, 
— at least they would receive no protection from their or- 
ganization or party. 

Currie remained at the school-house until evening. Between 
2 and 3 o'clock the firing at Harper's Ferry became "very rapid 
and continuous." and Currie asked Cook what it meant: to 
which he replied: "Well it simply means that those people 
down there are resisting our men. and we are shooting them 
down." In answer to a question as to how many men were en- 
gaged down there Cook replied : "I do not know how many 
394 Mason Report, 1-12. , 



332 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 

men are there now ; there may be 5,000 or there may be 10,000 
for aught I know." 395 

These exhibits are but a trifling fraction of the direct testi- 
mony relating to the subject ; yet Mr. Villard, in wanton disre- 
gard of such testimony, and of the overwhelming preponderance 
of historical facts which corroborate it, puts forth his violent 
assumptions as to the truth ; and asks the public to believe this 
great undertaking to have been merely a poorly planned raid 
which another general with the same purpose in view would 
have conducted differently : "established his mountain camp 
first; swooped down upon the town in order to spread terror 
throughout the state, and in an hour or two at most, have started 
back to his hill-top fastness." 

"First a soldier then a citizen was Brown's plan" for the up- 
lift of the "emancipated blacks." "There is no doubt," says 
this author, 396 "that he still expected the negroes to rise and 
swell his force to irresistible proportions." Numbers are not 
irresistible unless they be armed and organized. Why should 
"the leader of a new revolution," with the sword of Frederick 
the Great in his hand, plan "to take to the hills" in a trifling re- 
treat, and abandon the military stores at Harper's Ferry — the 
stores that were necessary to equip the irresistible numbers for 
irresistible operations? The assumption that he intended to do 
so is not only illogical ; it is absurd. 

The declaration that Brown was the sole member of the "at- 
tacking" force to believe in the assault upon the property of the 
United States at Harper's Ferry is contradicted by competent 
testimony, and by the significance of the general order that pro- 
vided for the occupation of the town, and that designated the 
officers and men who were to take charge of this same property. 
As to the unanimity of sentiment that prevailed in relation to 
the matter, Mr. Redpath says : 397 "On Saturday a meeting of 

385 Mason Report, 56. 

396 Villard, 438. 

397 Redpath, 244. 



A PERVERSION OF HISTORY 333 

the Liberators was held and the plan of operations discussed. 
On Sunday evening a council was again convened and the pro- 
gramme of the Captain unanimously approved." 

Other documents disclose the facts that the "Captain" and his 
men not only intended to seize this United States property — 
the anus in the arsenal and in the rifle works — but that they 
intended to keep them and to use them. A general order issued 
from the headquarters of their war department provided for the 
organization of an army. 

Jeremiah G. Anderson was one of Brown's veterans, who, 
with full confidence in the final success of their venture, ap- 
proved of this movement. Late in September, writing from 
"near Harper's Ferry" he said : 398 

Everything seems to work to our hand and victory will 

surely perch upon our banner. . . This is not a large 

place but a very precious one to Uncle Sam, he has a great 

many tools here. 

A victor is one who conquers — who defeats an enemy. In 
its relation to war, victory means the defeat of the enemy in 
battle. Anderson had an army in his mind, and battles and con- 
quest, and the establishment of the Provisional Government, 
when he referred to victory, and used the word advisedly. A 
"raid" upon a place may be successfully executed but it cannot 
be, properly, called a victory over anything. John E. Cook be- 
lieved the amis would be used and approved of the use of them. 
"But ere that day arrives,' he said, "I fear that we shall hear the 
crash of the battle shock and see the red gleaming of the can- 
non's lightning." 3 " 

Brown leased the Kennedy farm because the location was 
suitable for his purposes in the furtherance of his plans. From 
there he conducted his secret negotiations, with the slaves, for 
the insurrection, and distributed the pikes, probably 500, which 
his co-conspirators were to use in their secret assassinations; 

3 98 Sanborn, 545. 
3" Ante, note 290. 



334 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 

but when he launched the invasion, and debouched his com- 
mand, he abandoned it. Therefore, it was not necessary for 
him to leave a force "adequate" or inadequate "on the river 
bank to insure his being able to fall back to that base," or to 
cover a retreat still more illogical : a retreat of his little band, 
with a lot of slaves, and prisoners as hostages, "to the hills" 
where barren rocks afforded no shelter and "where starvation 
would have met him at the threshold of his eyrie." 400 

Aside from what the record contains relating to the subject, 
it is illogical to assume that the veterans of Brown's band would 
imperil their lives in a scheme so dangerous — a scheme in- 
volving death upon the gallows for every one of them if they 
failed — unless they approved of it with the fullest possible de- 
gree of confidence ; only absolute confidence in the feasibility of 
their plans, and the hope of reward without a parallel, could 
have induced these men "with soiled lives behind them," 401 to 
undertake this conquest. Their arrogance upon entering the 
town is evidence of their enthusiasm, and confidence in the suc- 
cess of what they were doing, and of their approval of it. Their 
conduct was of the swaggering, domineering kind. It was of 
the : Halt! or I'll kill you! kind ; conduct bred by contamination 
in an environment supercharged with the scheming for mur- 
derous deeds, reeking with the planning for assassinations, and 
nourished by the belief that they were not accountable to any 
power upon earth for their actions. Men do not shoot down 
their fellow-men for trivial causes, unless they believe they are 
in control of the situation, and are immune from punishment. 
These men were expecting trouble. They had come to Harper's 
Ferry believing they were about to write the bloodiest chapter 
in history; that the most desperate struggle in all history was 
imminent, and they were impatient to have it begin. They cut 
the telegraph wires ; made prisoners of whomever they met ; 
stopped the railway train carrying passengers and mails ; shot 

*<"> Chadwick, Causes of the Civil War, 87. 
401 Villard, 415. 



A PERVERSION OF HISTORY 335 

at Watchman Higgins; shot and killed the baggage-porter, 
Hayward, because he did not obey the command to halt ; and 
killed Mr. Boerly without any apparent provocation. Men who 
have no confidence in their supremacy; who do not believe they 
will succeed in what they are doing, but intend to run away, and 
laboriously "take to the hills" and act upon the defensive with- 
out facilities for defense, do not thus demean themselves. The 
logic of Mr. Villard's theory of Brown's plans is: That this 
score of "hard-headed Americans" believed they could shoot 
down and kill their fellow-citizens upon the streets of Harper's 
Ferry with impunity; that they could rob the homes of that 
neighborhood and not be held accountable therefor; that they 
could carry off property: watches, money, horses, carriages, 
wagons, and slaves, into the hills adjoining the town, and not 
be pursued by the local authorities ; that they could take citizens 
of the United States into custody as prisoners, and carry them 
to a "hill-top fastness," and maintain themselves there without 
supplies of either food, water, shelter, or munitions of war, 
other than what they carried upon their persons. 

They know little of Brown's plans and of his intentions, who 
criticize his strategy, in occupying Harper's Ferry, and his tena- 
cious defense of the position. And they know nothing of the 
agreements at which he had arrived, and the engagements which 
he had entered into with the slaves of that section, whom he had 
taken into his confidence, during the preceding three months, 
and who were to launch the insurrection he had planned, and 
who were to constitute the rank and file of his army of invasion. 
The author of Fifty Years After seems to have no clearer con- 
ception of the subject herein, than the author of fifty years be- 
fore assumed to have. Accepting, almost at par, Mr. Redpath's 
deceptive vagaries, he formulates a plan of campaign to conform 
with the conditions of his absurd conclusions; and then criti- 
cizes Brown because he did not execute his conceptions. The 
plans for their operations, whatever they may have been, were 
satisfactory to Brown and to the veteran adventurers who fol- 



336 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 

lowed his flag. "The man of blood and iron" and the "hard- 
headed Americans" had the plans under consideration during 
the two years preceding, and had placed the seal of their ap- 
proval upon them. If they were satisfactory to those who made 
them, and understood them, and staked their lives upon the suc- 
cessful execution of them, they should not be denounced too 
confidently, not to say flippantly, by those who do not know, or 
who assume not to know, what the plans were. 

The details which Brown made from his command were not 
to "garrison various parts of the town" and "hold the bridges" ; 
the assignments were made in pursuance of his well defined plan 
to organize and equip there the army which was to garrison the 
town and which was thereafter to burn the bridges and hold the 
approaches to it; the army that was to invade the Southern 
States; the army that was to "start from here" (Harper's 
Ferry) "and go through the State of Virginia and on South," 
conquering and to conquer. 

The dispositions that he made of his forces were in harmony 
with the theory of the insurrection, which was the key-note of 
the invasion. The slaves from the east side of the Potomac — 
the neighborhoods of Sharpsburg, Boonsboro, and Hagerstown 
— after declaring their right to freedom, by assassinating their 
owners, were to report to Owen Brown at the "school-house," 
there to be organized into a battalion under his command, and 
be armed with the rifles and supplied with the ammunition that 
were to be deposited there for that purpose. In the same way 
the slaves who were to arrive from the Middletown Valley, and 
from the Frederick country, through Pleasant Valley and Sandy 
Hook, were to report to Watson Brown at the Potomac bridge 
and by him, or by Taylor who was stationed there with him, 
taken to the arsenal, where Hazlett was in charge as quarter- 
master and ordnance officer, and there be armed and equipped 
from the "precious tools stored there," belonging to the United 
States, which were to be seized for this purpose. In a similar 
manner, the slaves from Loudoun Vallev and the west side of the 



A PERVERSION OF HISTORY 337 

Shenandoah were to report to Oliver Brown and William 
Thompson and Newby at the Shenandoah bridge ; while the 
slaves coming from the country lying between the Shenandoah 
and the Potomac were to report to Kagi, at the rifle- works, and 
by him and his assistants — Copeland and Leary — taken to 
the arsenal for their equipment. Brown had said to his friend 
Douglass : "When I strike the bees will swarm and I shall want 
you to help me hive them." In this manner they were to be 
hived, and furnished with stings. 

This being true, Brown defied no canons when he crossed the 
Potomac nor did he thereby place a river between himself and 
his base of supplies. He had, in general orders, designated 
Harper's Ferry as his headquarters. Harper's Ferry, with its 
millions of dollars' worth of military stores, was thenceforth 
to be his base of supplies, and the State of Virginia and the 
South the field of his operations. Having paralyzed the South 
with the insurrection, the Potomac was to be his front, and be- 
hind its banks he intended to entrench his army. He appointed 
no place for his men to retreat to, nor made any provisions for 
retreating, for the word had no place in his vocabulary. He 
fixed no hour for his withdrawal from the town, because he did 
not intend to withdraw from it. He was not executing a raid. 
Why should his captains proudly march to Harper's Ferry; 
"their Sharp's rifles hung from their shoulders, their commis- 
sions duly signed and officially sealed in their pockets," if they 
were to trudge back again to the Kennedy farm in demoralizing 
retreat, with no booty, and without having seen an enemy, and 
before a hostile shot had been fired : and then "take to the hills." 
there to be hunted by dogs and men, as wild beasts are hunted, 
and be shot down as wild beasts are shot, by slave-catchers, 
patrols, and marshals. Their campaign was serious, heroic, and 
desperate beyond the comprehension of Brown's biographers. 
Rarely in history have men voluntarily stood to win or die as 
these men stood at Harper's Ferry. There was no place on the 
earth where thev could retreat to and live. When Brown and 



338 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 

his captains crossed the Potomac, the die was cast ; the invasion 
was on. Thenceforth they might advance but not retreat ; they 
might fight but not run. If they came back, it would have to be 
"with their shields or upon them." 

There was no violation of military principles in Brown's oc- 
cupation of Harper's Ferry, or in the dispositions which he made 
of his men, nor in his tenacious defense of his position. The 
military principles which he violated are not referred to in the 
charges and specifications preferred against him by this recent 
biographer. These violations were fatal to his enterprise, but 
they all antedate the night of October 16, 1859. If the hun- 
dreds of slaves whom Brown secretly armed with the Collins- 
ville spears, with which to assassinate their masters and their 
masters' families, had done their bloody work as they had prom- 
ised to do ; then the fifteen hundred men that Brown believed 
would report to him for duty by 12 o'clock on the 17th, 402 and 
the 5,000 men whom Cook, at 4 o'clock, thought had already re- 
ported and were in action, would have arrived, and the story of 
Harper's Ferry would have been different. There would have 
been no violations of military principles then in Brown's tactics 
and strategy, to criticise by any authority whatever. "Another 
general, with the same purpose in view," and with the same 
forces at his disposal, would not have improved very much upon 
Brown's plans. 

The hint at a hill-top fastness, where another general would 
have established his camp before he "swooped" down upon the 
town, is a modification of Mr. Redpath's invention of an "inac- 
cessible fastness." It is a delusion none the less, a delusion that 
was shot to pieces within two years after Mr. Redpath framed it. 
Such a position has no existence, except it be in authors' im- 
aginations. There is not now, and there never was a position 
upon either Maryland Heights or Loudoun Heights that can- 
not be "stormed at with shot and shell." 

402 Sanborn, 557. 



A PERVERSION OF HISTORY 339 

During the war between the States, the Union generals forti- 
fied Mr. Redpath's inaccessible fastness. Half way up the 
tangled steeps of Maryland Heights, on a small bit of plateau 
— less than an acre — they placed a battery of siege guns : two 
9-inch Columbiads, a 50-pounder Parrott, and two or three field 
pieces. Also, they reenforced the natural defenses of the "hill- 
top fastness" by formidable breastworks, built of rocks and 
trunks of trees, and protected them by abatis. On the 12th of 
September, 1862, the Confederate infantry swarmed all over 
these inacessible fastnesses. During the 13th and 14th, the 
front of the "hill-top fastness," on the summit of Maryland 
Heights, was a sheet of flame and lead, enveloped in clouds of 
smoke. The rifle fire from the opposing lines stripped the bark 
from the trunks of all the trees, within a hundred and fifty 
yards of the front of these breastworks, as clean as though they 
had been girdled with an ax. Not only did Jackson's infantry 
penetrate these fastnesses, but during the morning of the 14th 
they took two pieces of artillery to the top of these "inacces- 
sible" heights and "turned loose" with shot and shell upon the 
hill-top fastness. During the night of the 14th. the Union com- 
mander abandoned the inaccessible fastness, dismounted and 
spiked the guns on the mountain side, and joined the forces at 
Harper's Ferry, on Bolivar Heights. 

On the 20th, a detachment from what had been Mansfield's 
Corps, of McClellan's Army — Crawford's Brigade 4 " 3 — then 
in command of Col. Joseph F. Knipe of the Forty-sixth Penn- 
sylvania, with a section of artillery, also climbed these inacces- 
sible heights to drive the Confederates from the position. 4 * 

403 Mansfield had been killed and Crawford wounded, on the 17th, at 
Antietam. 

404 A recollection of the scene at the top of Maryland Heights by a 
survivor of Knipe's column, is of a mound of stones raised over a shal- 
low grave. It was located near where the Confederate line of battle had 
been formed. Upon a piece of cracker-box, that was held in place by the 
stones marking the grave, a comrade's hand had cut in rude letters this 



340 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 

There are many persons living who remember having 
marched or "tramped" or "climbed" or "trudged" or "stum- 
bled" or "hoofed it" up and down and over these mountains, 
on campaign and on picket duty, during the years of the great 
war; but it is doubtful if any of them ever heard of a detach- 
ment that executed such maneuvers by "swooping." The real 
movement is different, especially so if it be executed at night. 

In behalf of a patient public that has long been grievously 
imposed upon by partisan biographers, the writer asks unani- 
mous consent that references to "fastnesses," with which Brown 
is said to have been "familiar for seventeen years" be barred, 
henceforth, from the literature of this subject; the inhibition 
to include all the patterns of fastnesses which have been ex- 
ploited; from the inaccessible kind of 1859 down through the 
intervening years, ending with the hill-top variety of fifty years 
after. 



tribute to a gallant soul who had met a soldier's death upon these rugged 
heights. It read : 

"SERGT.— [Name forgotten] 

CO. H. 7th, S. C. 

THE BRAVE DIE 

BUT ONCE." 



CHAPTER XV 

HIS GREAT ADVENTURE 

All merit comes 

From daring the unequal, 
All glory comes from daring to begin. 

— Eugene Ware 

Beginning with January, 1857, one thing is clearly disclosed 
and made conclusive by the record of Brown's subsequent activ- 
ities : that he contemplated an armed invasion and conquest of 
the Southern States. His correspondence, and the long line of 
historical incidents which touch his life, during the time inter- 
vening between that date and the collapse of his fortunes at 
Harper's Ferry, show that his mind was preoccupied with plans 
for the accomplishment of that stupendous purpose. He be- 
lieved that the slaves could be induced to rise against their mas- 
ters ; assassinate them and their families, and declare their free- 
dom. From the ranks of the freedmen, he planned to recruit an 
army for the occupation of the territory affected by the insur- 
rection, and for further invasion ; and to establish and maintain 
the authority of a provisional government. 

His scheme for conquest was probably a result of his re- 
lations with Hugh Forbes. Together the two adventurers 
planned the details for the undertaking. It was in pursuance 
of their plans for this purpose that Brown engaged Forbes's 
services, at a salary of a hundred dollars a month ; ordered the 
thousand spears; published the Manual of the Patriotic Volun- 
teer] planned to lure the soldiery of the Union from their "ser- 
vice with Satan to the service of God" ; planned to drive a nail 
into Captain Kidd's treasure-chest — whatever that meant; 



342 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 

planned the War College, whereat the prospective generals for 
the prospective army, and the prospective members for the 
prospective cabinet of the prospective Provisional Government, 
were to be instructed, under the direction of Forbes, in the sci- 
ence of war, and in the science of civil government. It was for 
his civil and military leaders that he engaged Stevens, Cook, 
Kagi, Tidd, Parsons, Realf, Gill, and others, and placed them 
in the school of instruction. 

To hedge against treason, he met with his embryonic gen- 
erals and secretaries at Chatham, Canada, and in convention 
assembled adopted a "Constitution and Ordinances" for the 
Provisional Government, which, among its provisions, declared 
the confiscation of the "entire personal and real property of all 
persons known to be acting with or for the enemy, or found 
wilfully holding slaves." This constitution had been printed 
and copies of it were available at the Kennedy farm. Every 
man who marched with Brown to Harper's Ferry had read it, 
or had heard it read, and had sworn allegiance to the govern- 
ment it represented. 

December 23, 1858, Merriam wrote to Brown: "I have 
heard vaguely of your contemplated action and now Mr. Red- 
path and Mr. Hinton have told me your contemplated action, 
in which I earnestly wish to join you in any capacity you wish 
to place me as far as my small capacities go." 405 He spent the 
winter in Hayti in company with Redpath, and knew how 
Brown intended to "assail the Slave Power." 406 

The message that Brown requested Conductor Phelps to com- 
municate to the management of the Baltimore and Ohio Rail- 
road, interdicting further traffic over the road, was a declara- 
tion of war. It was the first and only "Proclamation" issued 
by the commander-in-chief of the army of the Provisional Gov- 
ernment. At the time he gave out this declaration — 1 ;25 
a. m., October 17, 1859 — he and his captains confidently be- 

405 Mason Report, 66-67. 

406 Redpath, 8. 



HIS GREAT ADVENTURE 343 

lieved their insurrection to be in the full tide of successful in- 
itiation ; that the country in the vicinity was then in the throes 
of a slaughter that spared neither sex nor age ; that hordes of 
black fiends, like furies, were surging over the land in a riot of 
unimaginable proportions. These adventurers believed that 
their dreams of conquest were about to be realized; and that 
the rioting thousands, excited into a frenzy by the bloody deeds 
which had set them free, were already pressing in bands to join 
them at the appointed rendezvous to fill the ranks of the "Army 
of Liberation" ; that it was solely a question of time — a few 
hours at most — until these allies would be arriving, and they 
would have control of an army sufficiently strong to establish 
and maintain their authority. 

That the slaves' sole way to freedom lay over the dead bodies 
of their masters, was a self-evident proposition. The slaves 
knew by tradition and by experience, and Brown and his cap- 
tains knew, that if they — the slaves — ran away from their 
masters to join his forces, the masters, reenforced by the citizen 
soldiery, would pursue them immediately, and recover them be- 
fore they could organize for either defensive or aggressive war- 
fare. The problem of Harper's Ferry had been solved by the 
philosophy of the Pottawatomie. The same questions were in- 
volved in each venture : how to get the "goods" and keep them 
— how to get the slaves for the Provisional Army and fore- 
stall pursuit. It was the Pottawatomie amplified. 

Brown intended to create the "Provisional Army" in the 
enemy's country ; hence, it was essential for him to commence 
the undertaking by striking the most crushing blow that it was 
possible for him to deliver. The success of the movement de- 
pended upon his ability to strike a blow so terrible that the sur- 
vivors of the carnage, dazed and paralyzed by the horrors of the 
existing conditions, would be incapable of organizing and send- 
ing any opposing force to attack him. Therefore the assassina- 
tions — the destruction of the persons who, otherwise, would 
pursue. That was the central feature of the movement, the 



344 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 

base of the scheme, the blow which he intended to strike. It 
was the only blow which he could strike ; the only weapon that 
he could use of which any one stood in awe. The blow which 
he would have to strike if he would win, was the blow which 
he had told his Eastern friends he could strike : a blow that 
would shake the slave system to its foundation — the blow 
which he had promised Gerrit Smith he would strike, and 
doubtless, told him how he intended to strike it. 

To the men from the Pottawatomie, a massacre was simply 
a means to an end. Brown and his sons harbored no feelings 
of animosity toward the Doyles, the Shermans, and Wilkin- 
son ; but they knew that these men would not give up to them, 
peaceably, the property which they coveted, therefore they mur- 
dered them and took their horses. They knew that the owners 
of slaves and lands in the Southern States would not, peaceably, 
relinquish their ownership of this property; therefore they 
planned to incite the slaves to kill their masters while they slept 
— and having thus emancipated the slaves, confiscate the estates 
of the slave-holders, and put the assassins and themselves 
in possession of them. This massacre, the most horrible that 
was ever seriously contemplated in the brain of man, was to be 
executed under the pretense that it was an humanitarian meas- 
ure. In the name of humanity, they proposed to undertake the 
midnight assassination of millions of men, women, and chil- 
dren, and to contend for justification for their actions. The 
word, with Brown, was a convenience, or an interchangeable 
term. A definition of it, in the sense in which he used the word, 
is found in his personal understanding, or interpretation rather, 
of its co-relation, "The Golden Rule." He is quoted by San- 
born and others as having stated "more than once" : "I be- 
lieve in the Golden Rule and the Declaration of Independence. 
I think that both mean the same thing; and it is better that a 
whole generation should pass off the face of the earth — men, 
women and children — by a violent death than that one jot of 



HIS GREAT ADVENTURE 345 



407 



either should fail in this country. I mean exactly so, sir." 

The possibility that the blacks in the South might attempt to 
gain their freedom by a general massacre of the whites, was a 
condition co-existent with their enslavement. After 1831 that 
possibility became a fixed impending probability ; and the ques- 
tion of means to prevent the inevitable cataclysm of blood, was 
a matter of constant concern in the economy of the Southern 
States; with the result that various preventive measures were 
adopted to discourage the possibility of attempts, by the slaves, 
to organize for such undertakings, or to fit themselves, by ed- 
ucation or otherwise, to promote such organizations. 

In the philosophy of John Brown, what Nat Turner had clone 
in a section of Southampton County, Virginia, could, if properly 
promoted, be done in any other section or locality; and, if in 
any locality, then in every locality, or throughout the whole 
South. Therefore, an insurrection by the slaves, having for 
its object the overthrow of the existing State governments of 
the South, was a venture, from his point of view, which might 
be undertaken with reasonable prospects for success; the ulti- 
mate result depending largely upon his ability to organize the 
slaves effectively for revolt; to equip them for the initial up- 
rising, and thereafter to capably direct the movement. 

No disaster that ever befell our country, war not excepted, 
was in any respect comparable with the horrors which would be 
incidental to a slave insurrection ; yet our people lived during 
more than half a century in the shadow of that menace. They 
lived in a state of continual apprehension that it, the most 
stupendous of conceivable calamities, might at any time over- 
whelm them. 

For years patrols had ridden the roads and men had 
watched of night lest the negroes turn upon their masters. 
It was an ever present fear. That the Abolitionists wished 
the slaves to rise and kill their masters in their beds was a be- 

407 Sanborn, 122. 



346 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 

lief widely held in the South and often publicly expressed, 

and no happening that could be imagined contained a greater 

possibility of horror and bloodshed. 408 

It has been said, and there is great force in the statement, 
that the "Underground Railroad," instead of working hardship 
and great loss to slave-holders, was, in reality "the safety-valve 
to the institution." It was the sluice for the overflow of the 
dangerous class — the able and discontented. The Under- 
ground was organized at the close of the eighteenth century, 
and had on its rolls more than 30,000 "employees." It carried 
away from the South, probably 75,000 slaves of the value of 
more than $30,000,000. The slaves who thus sought and ob- 
tained their liberty, taking the risk of arrest and punishment in 
their attempts to gain it, were the ablest and the most influential 
among them. Had they remained in slavery, these men would 
have further developed and become leaders among the slaves, 
and would have organized them and led them into insurrection. 
"Had they remained, the direful scenes of San Domingo would 
have been enacted, and the hot, vengeful breath of massacre 
would have swept the South as a tornado and blanched the 
cheek of the civilized world." 409 

Brown knew about the hot vengeful breath which had swept 
the white population from the fair face of San Domingo. And 
he was familiar with the attempts which had been made to re- 
light its fires in this country, and to start the tornado of death. 
He was familiar with what his predecessors in the insurrection 
business had done, and with what they had tried to do. He 
knew, too, or thought he knew, why they had failed. Naturally 
he sought to avoid the mistakes which they had committed, and 
to safeguard his operations by improving upon their methods. 
The seizure of Harper's Ferry was not a "Foray into Virginia," 
as Mr. Sanborn chooses to call it ; neither was it a "Raid" as Mr. 
Villard, with conspicuous persistence, seeks to make it appear 

408 Villard, 436. 

409 Williams, History of Negro Race in America, 59. 



HIS GREAT ADVENTURE 347 

to have been ; nor was it either an "attack" upon the town or a 
"blow" or any other specious form of movement. Brown se- 
lected the place and "occupied" it as the base for his military 
operations, because he intended to use the generous supplies of 
war material, which were then in store there, for the equipment 
of the army that he planned to organize. The occupation was to 
be permanent. It was a stratagem of his campaign, an inci- 
dent in his main design. 

By the logic of the assassinations, Brown believed he would 
secure immunity from an immediate, or counter assault. In- 
stead of being compelled to defend his position against attack 
by the militia, and by companies of armed citizens, which might 
be improvised for the occasion, he contemplated spending the 
first "few weeks" of the campaign in comparative security; 
publishing, far and wide, the proclamation of the Provisional 
Government, with its lure for adventurers in civil and military 
life : debauching the citizenship of the country and the soldiery 
of the Union. He also contemplated having leisure to attend 
such diplomatic functions as might be incidental to the situa- 
tion, including negotiations with foreign nations, and the prob- 
lems of "Foreign intervention," Northern conventions, etc. 410 

Forbes's letter of May 14, 1858, heretofore quoted, discloses 
Brown's theory of the invasion ; it deals with the facts of 
Brown's secret movement then pending in the untried future. 
These two men had agreed upon an invasion of the South under 
cover of an "insurrection." The opinion Forbes gave Dr. 
Howe therein is a dissenting one, for personal reasons, from his 
agreement with Brown. In the revised opinion. Forbes stated 
his belief that the insurrection would fail : that it would be 
"either a flash in the pan, or it would leap beyond his control or 
any control," and after having spent its force in a riot of blood 
would be stamped out. Brown thought otherwise; he was 
"sure of a response," and believed that he could safeguard 
against "a flash in the pan." With the question of "losing con- 

-n°Villard, 314. 



348 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 

trol" of the insurrection he was not concerned; that was a 
bridge which he would cross when he came to it. Under his 
control, a whole generation was to pass off the face of the earth 
by a violent death, and nothing much could occur in excess of 
that if the insurrection did happen to get beyond it. The hurri- 
cane of horrors which he proposed to unloose, could not sweep 
too far for his purposes ; he would have it spread to every 
Southern State, and in the language of Jeremiah Goldsmith 
Anderson, "make this land of liberty and equality shake to the 
center." 411 

That Brown expected to be strongly supported by a secret 
colored military organization existing in the North, and "that 
had its ramifications extended through most or nearly all of the 
Slave States,'' is more than probable. This organization was 
represented at the Chatham convention by G. J. Reynolds, of 
Sandusky, Ohio, "a colored man (very little colored, how- 
ever)"; and after the convention adjourned, Geo. B. Gill was 
sent to Oberlin, Berlin Heights, and Milan, Ohio, to verify the 
statements which Reynolds had made concerning its forces. 
Gill met him and "under the pledge of secrecy which we gave 
to each other at the Chatham convention," he says, Reynolds 
took him to the room where they held their meetings, and used 
as their arsenal, and showed him "a fine collection of arms." 
"On my return to Cleveland," continues Gill, "he passed me, 
through the organization, first to J. J. Pierce, colored, at Milan, 
who paid my bill one night at the Eagle Hotel, and gave me 
some money, and a note to E. Moore at Norwalk ; who in turn 
paid my hotel bill, and purchased a railroad ticket through to 
Cleveland for me." Reynolds asserted that they were "only 
waiting for Brown or some one else to make a successful in- 
itiative move, when their forces would be put in motion." 412 

It must not be assumed, because Brown did not publish a 

411 Villard, 682. 

412 Hinton Papers, Kansas Historical Society. 



HIS GREAT ADVENTURE 349 

transcript of his plans for the insurrection and invasion, that he 
was "without any clear and definite plan of campaign," and that 
the consequences of his plans had not been anticipated, and pro- 
vided for in minutest detail, for he was methodical. Also, 
secrecy was characteristic of his methods. Salmon Brown 
said : 413 "Father had a peculiarity for insisting on order. . . 
He would insist on getting everything arranged just to suit 
him before he would consent to make a move." 

And to Kagi Brown wrote July 10th : 414 "Do not use much 
paper to put names of persons & plans upon." 

The nature of Brown's plans, and of his intentions, and of his 
engagements, must therefore be drawn from the documentary 
evidence obtainable, and from such reasonable inferences as can 
be derived from the actions of the invaders; from the things 
which they did while they were free to do as they pleased; 
while they were yet unrestrained by the forces which later over- 
came them ; and from such contemporaneous testimony, relat- 
ing to the subject, as may be available. What they said when 
in prison, and in view of the impending gallows, about what 
they intended to do, is not the best evidence of what their in- 
tentions were. 

On the 19th of August, Mr. Frederick Douglass met John 
Brown, by appointment, at an old stone quarry in the vicinity 
of Chambersburg. At that interview, Brown disclosed to Mr. 
Douglass his intention to seize Harper's Ferry. Mr. Douglass 
said : 415 

The taking of Harper's Ferry, of which Brown had merely 
hinted before, was now declared his settled purpose, and he 
wanted to know what I thought of it. I opposed it with all 
the arguments at my command. . . He was not to be 
shaken but treated my views respectfully, replying that even 

*" Villard, 424. 
"i*Villard, 406. 
415 Sanborn, 539. 



350 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 

if surrounded he would find means to cut his way out. 
. . . In parting, he put his arms around me in a manner 
more than friendly, and said, "Come with me, Douglas; I 
will defend you with my life. I want you for a special pur- 
pose. When I strike the bees will begin to swarm, and I 
shall want you to help hive them." . . 

The project that Brown had in view was clearly foreshad- 
owed by Jeremiah G. Anderson, in a letter which he wrote, late 
in September, to a brother in Iowa. He said : 416 

Our mining company will consist of between twenty-five 
and thirty men well equipped with tools. You can tell 
Uncle Dan it will be impossible for me to see him before 
next spring. If my life is spared I will be tired of work by 
that time, and I shall visit my relatives and friends in Iowa, 
if I can get leave of absence. At present I am bound by all 
that is honorable to continue in the course. We go in to win, 
at all hazards. So if you should hear of failure, it will be 
after a desperate struggle, and loss of capital on both sides. 
But this is the last of our thoughts. Everything seems to 
work to our hands, and victory will surely perch upon our 
banner. The old man has had this in view for twenty years, 
and last winter was just a hint and trial of what could be 
done. This is not a large place but a very precious one to 
Uncle Sam, as he had a great many tools here. I expect 
(when I start again travelling) to start at this place and go 
through the State of Virginia and on south, just as circum- 
stances require ; mining and prospecting, and carrying the 
ore with us. I suppose this is the last letter I shall write 
you before there is something in the wind. Whether I shall 
have an opportunity of sending letters then, I do not know, 
but when I have an opportunity I shall improve it. But if 
you don't get any from me, don't take it for granted that I 
am gone up till you know it to be so. I consider my life 
about as safe in one place as another. 

The following interesting and instructive document discloses 
the formation of Anderson's mining company, and indicates the 

416 Sanborn, 545. 



HIS GREAT ADVENTURE 351 

character of the "mining" which the operators intended to en- 
gage in. It reads as follows : 

HEADQUARTERS WAR DEPARTMENT, PROVISIONAL ARMY. 

Harper's Ferry, October 10, 1859. 
General Orders No. 1. 

ORGANIZATION 

The divisions of the provisional army and the coalition are 
hereby established as follows : 

1 — Company. 

A company will consist of fifty-six privates, twelve non- 
commissioned officers, (eight corporals, 4 sergeants) three 
commissioned officers, (two lieutenants, a captain,) and a 
surgeon. 

The privates shall be divided into bands or messes of seven 
each numbering from one to eight, with a corporal to each, 
numbered like his band. 

Two bands shall comprise a section. Sections shall be 
numbered from one to four. A sergeant shall be attached 
to each section and numbered like it. 

Two sections shall comprise a platoon. Platoons will be 
numbered one and two, and each commanded by a lieutenant 
designated by like number. 

2 — Battalion. 

The battalion will consist of four companies complete. 
The commissioned officers of the battalion will be a chief of 
battalion, and a first and second major, one of whom shall be 
attached to each wing. 

3 — The Regiment. 

The regiment will consist of four battalions complete. 
The commissioned officers of the regiment will be a colonel 
and two lieutenant colonels, attached to the wings. 
4 — The Brigade. 

The brigade will consist of four regiments complete. The 
commissioned officer of the brigade will be a general of 
brigade. 



352 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 

5 — Each General Staff. 
Each of the above divisions will be entitled to a general 
staff, consisting of an adjutant, a commissary, a musician, 
and a surgeon. 

6 — Appointment. 
Non-commissioned officers will be chosen by those whom 
they are to command. 

Commissioned officers will be appointed and commissioned 
by this department. 

The staff officers of each division will be appointed by the 
respective commanders of the same. 

(This document is in the handwriting of J. H. Kagi.) 417 
Oliver Brown and Jeremiah G. Anderson were captains in the 
provisional army. A copy of Brown's commission is published 
herewith : 

greeting : 

headquarters war department. 
Near Harper's Ferry Maryland. 
Whereas Oliver Brown has been nominated a captain in 
the army established under the provisional constitution, 

Now, therefore, in pursuance of the authority vested in us 
by said constitution, we do hereby appoint and commission 
the said Oliver Brown a captain. 

Given at the office of the Secretary of War, this day, Octo- 
ber 15, 1859. John Brown, 
J. H. Kagi, Commander in Chief. 
Secretary of War. 
(This document is printed in the original, with. the exception 
of the words in italics and the figures, which are in the hand- 
writing of Kagi, with the exception of the signature of John 
Brown, which is in his own hand.) 418 

Except as to Mr. Sanborn and Mr. Stearns, it is hard to be- 
lieve that the members of Brown's war committee were ig- 

417 Mason Report, 59-6Q 

418 Mason Report, 60. 



HIS GREAT ADVENTURE 353 

norant of his intention to incite a slave insurrection, and invade 
the South. Rev. Theodore Parker said : 

I should like of all things to see an insurrection of the 

Slaves. It must be tried many times before it succeeds, as 

at last it must. 419 

Dr. Howe also knew of the impending insurrection. Mr. 
Sanborn says : 420 

Dr. Howe, returning from Cuba, ( whither he accompanied 
Theodore Parker in February 1859), journeyed through the 
Carolinas, and there accepted the hospitality of Wade Hamp- 
ton, and other rich planters ; and it shocked him to think that 
he might be instrumental in giving up to fire and pillage 
their noble mansions. 

Thaddeus Hyatt, of New York, too, seems to have known 
what Brown intended to do, and from whence he derived his 
inspirations. Also the indiscriminate massacre of non-combat- 
ants, white women and children, by the negroes of Hayti seems 
to have had his approbation. He presented to the Black Re- 
public a portrait 421 of the man, John Brown, who in 1859 
sought to incite the negroes of the Southern States to do what 
the negroes of San Domingo did, when "one August night, in 
the year 1791 the whole plain of the north was swept with fire 
and drenched with blood. Five hundred thousand negro slaves 
in the depths of barbarism revolted, and the horrors of the 
massacre made Europe and America shudder." 4 " 

August 27, 1859, Gerrit Smith wrote the following letter to 
the "J err v Rescue Committee" : 423 

It is, perhaps, too late to bring slavery to an end by 
peaceable means,— too late to vote it down. For many 

419 Frothingham. Parker, 475. 

420 Sanborn, 491. note 2. 

421 Two paintings of Brown were made by Nathan B. Onthank ; the 
other one is in the Boston Athenaeum. Villard. xiii. 

422 Henry Adams, History of the United States, vol. i. 380. 

423 Frothingham, Gerrit Smith, 249. 



354 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 

years I have feared, and published my fears, that it would go 
out in blood. These fears have grown into a belief. So 
debauched are the white people by slavery that there is not 
virtue enough left in them to put it down. . . The feel- 
ing among the blacks that they must deliver themselves gains 
strength with fearful rapidity. No wonder, then, is it that 
intelligent black men in the States and in Canada should see 
no hope for their race in the practice and policy of white 
men. . . Whoever he may be that foretells the horrible 
end of American slavery, is held at the North and the South 
to be a lying prophet, — another Cassandra. The South 
would not respect her own Jefferson's prediction of servile 
insurrection ; how then can it be hoped that she will respect 
another's? . . . And is it entirely certain that these in- 
surrections will be put down promptly, and before they can 
have spread far? Will telegraphs and railroads be too swift 
for the swiftest insurrections? Remember that telegraphs 
and railroads can be rendered useless in an hour. Remember 
too that many who would be glad to face the insurgents 
would be busy in transporting their wives and daughters to 
places where they would be safe from the worst fate that 
husbands and fathers can imagine for their wives and daugh- 
ters. I admit that but for this embarrassment Southern men 
would laugh at the idea of an insurrection and would quickly 
dispose of one. But trembling as they would for beloved 
ones, I know of no part of the world, where, so much as in 
the South, men would be like, in a formidable insurrection, 
to lose the most important time, and be distracted and panic 
stricken. 

Commenting upon this letter, Mr. Sanborn, after quoting 
from Mr. Smith's biographer the expression "This Cassandra 
spoke from certainty," says that he (Smith) "knew what 
Brown's purpose was ; and his last contribution to Brown's cam- 
paign was made about the time the Syracuse letter was written." 
Referring to the same letter, his biographer, Frothingham, 
says: 



HIS GREAT ADVENTURE 355 

It is hard to believe that the writer of these passages had 
not had John Brown's general plan in mind. There was no 
visible sign of peril. The blacks, North and South, were to 
all appearances quiet. . . But for the whole-handed 
destruction of documents immediately on the failure of the 
project, Mr. Smith's participation in John Brown's general 
plans could be made to appear still closer. 

As late as 1867, Mr. Smith disclaimed having any knowledge 
of Brown's plans or of his intentions. He denied that he gave 
money with the purpose of aiding the insurrection. Concern- 
ing this Mr. Frothingham continues : 

Did Gerrit Smith really think that this was a complete and 
truthful statement of his relations with John Brown? A 
statement in which nothing true was suppressed, and nothing 
untrue suggested ? A statement that would be satisfactory 
to Edward Morton, and F. B. Sanborn and Dr. Howe and 
other friends of the Martyr ? . . . We must believe that 
his insanity obliterated a certain class of impressions, while 
another class of impressions on the same subject remained 
distinct. 

The theory of Brown's operations being the conquest of the 
South through an insurrection of the slaves, the collapse of the 
scheme was coincident with the failure of the slaves to execute 
the part assigned to them in the plan of the invasion. It is 
herein that Brown's leadership may be criticised. The crea- 
tion of the army depended upon the success of the insurrection. 
The latter, therefore, should have been made safe — beyond 
the possibility of failure — before he committed any subordin- 
ate irremediable acts. 

At Cleveland, Brown took credit for never having killed any- 
body, but said, in a self conscious manner, referring to his 
Kansas successes, that on "some occasions he had shown his 
young men with him how some things might be done as well as 
others and that they had done them." Brown plainly attrib- 
uted the failure of the insurrection, and his consequent failure, 



356 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 

to a cause which he could have controlled — to his failure to do 
things which he could have done, and which he then reproached 
himself for not having done. 

"It is my own fault," he said, October 18th, "that I have been 
taken. I could easily have saved myself from it, had I exer- 
cised my own better judgment rather than yielded to my feel- 
ings." 

"You mean if you had escaped immediately?" inquired Mr. 
Mason. 

"No," he said, "I had the means to make myself secure with- 
out any escape, but I allowed myself to be surrounded by a force 
by being too tardy." 

Brown had planned how to prevent being surrounded, and 
continuing said : "I do not know that I should reveal my plans. 
I am here a prisoner and wounded because I foolishly allowed 
myself to be so. You overrate yourself in supposing I could 
have been taken if I had not allowed it." 

Nat Turner had shown his followers how to start an insur- 
rection. He personally spilled the first blood, the blood which 
turned loose the furies in Southampton County, and Brown 
now saw, too late, that if he and his captains had each led a 
party of negroes, as Turner had led ; and shown them how to 
kill, as Turner had shown his followers; they too might have 
turned loose the furies of which Brown and Forbes dreamed, 
and launched the hurricane of death. Then, with thousands of 
rioting slaves, brandishing their bloody spears, the occupation 
of Harper's Ferry would have been but an incident of minor 
importance in this history. 

Forbes perceived the weak link in the chain of Brown's fore- 
cast, and made the point, that unless the slaves were "already in 
a state of agitation, there might be no response, or a feeble 
one." But Brown, carried away by an enthusiasm inspired by 
a continuous contemplation of the grandeur of his scheme, 
failed to give the warning the consideration which its impor- 



HIS GREAT ADVENTURE 357 

tance deserved. He dismissed Forbes's caution with the con- 
fident assertion that he "zvas sure of a response." His over- 
confidence led to his immediate undoing. Upon the rock that 
Forbes had pointed out foundered the new-born ship of state. 
The great uprising of the blacks upon which he relied, failed to 
materialize; the thousands of reinforcements which he looked 
for, appeared not at all. 424 The plans for the conquest of the 
Southern States, and for the establishment of the Provisional 
Government miscarried. 

Concerning Brown and his plans Mr. Vallandigham said : 
It is in vain to underestimate the man or the conspiracy. 
Captain John Brown is as brave and resolute a man as ever 
headed an insurrection, and, in a good cause, and with a suf- 
ficient force, would have been a consummate partisan com- 
mander. He has coolness, daring, persistency, the stoic 
faith and patience, and a firmness of will and purpose un- 
conquerable. He is the farthest possible removed from the 
ordinary ruffian, fanatic or madman. Certainly it was the 
best planned and best executed conspiracy that ever failed. 425 
John Brown was not a pioneer in the slave insurrection busi- 
ness, nor does his plan of procedure at Harper's Ferry suggest 
any novelties or anything original in the way of such insurrec- 
tions. He had before him a long line of precedents and ex- 
amples which he studied ; and ideals, written in blood, which he 
sought to emulate. His heroes were Toussaint L'Ouverture 
and Nat Turner, their hands red with the blood of innocence. 
Turner had killed between fifty and sixty white people, mostly 
women and children, and Mr. Redpath tells us that Brown 
"admired this negro patriot equally with George Washing- 
ton." Turner was his most recent and most direct example. 
It was from what Turner had done, that Brown and Forbes 
formed their estimates of what they could do. From the 



424Villard, 468. 
425 Redpath, 285. 



358 JOHN BROWN: A CRITIQUE 

example furnished by this ideal patriot, they framed the Mary- 
land-Virginia equation. They reasoned in this way: If an 
ignorant slave, with a score of poorly armed negro followers, 
who were also slaves, could kill sixty white people in a day, 
how many white people could a thousand negroes, who are well 
equipped for midnight slaughter, kill in a single night? Their 
solution of that problem found expression in the order which 
they placed, in March, 1857, with the Collinsville blacksmith. 
It was Brown's answer to this question, expanded as Brown 
sought to expand it at Harper's Ferry, that was to "make 
slavery totter from its foundations." 

Upon several occasions — notably, once in South Carolina, 
and twice in Virginia — the slaves of this country had en- 
gaged in conspiracies against their masters. In each instance 
the men who promoted the revolt were themselves slaves. In 
two instances the insurgents planned to seize the arsenals, and 
public arms and ammunition, as Brown planned to do, and did, 
at Harper's Ferry. In each instance the revolt was to be ac- 
complished by a general massacre of the white inhabitants. 
Brown and Forbes, in 1857, studied the trails that had been 
blazed on these occasions, and planned with reference to the ex- 
periences of the men who had directed the efforts. 

The first attempt at insurrection in this country was led by 
"General" Gabriel in September, 1800. The date agreed upon 
was Saturday [Monday], September 1st. The place of rendez- 
vous was on a brook six miles from Richmond, Virginia. The 
force was to comprise eleven hundred men, divided into three 
divisions. The attack was to have been made upon Richmond, 
then a town of eight thousand population, under cover of the 
night. 426 

The plan for the occupation of Richmond was similar in some 
respects to Brown's plans at Harper's Ferry. One of the di- 
visions of the army was to take the penitentiary, which had 

426 Williams, History of the Negro Race in America, 84. 



HIS GREAT ADVENTURE 359 

been improvised into an arsenal. Another division was to seize 
the powder-house. A statement of the trouble was published 
in the United States Gazette of Philadelphia, September 8, 
1800: 

The penitentiary held several thousand stand of arms ; 
the powder-house was well stocked ; the capitol contained 
the State Treasury ; the mills would give them bread ; the 
control of the bridge across the James river would keep off 
enemies from beyond. Thus secured and provided, they 
planned to issue proclamations, summoning to their standard 
"their fellow negroes and the friends of humanity through- 
out the continent." In a week they estimated they would 
have 50,000 men on their side, when they would possess 
themselves of other towns. 427 

A formidable insurrection was attempted in 1822 by Den- 
mark Vesey. The slaves involved in this plot were distributed 
over a territory of forty-five to fifty miles in extent around 
Charleston, South Carolina. Vesey's plan of revolt contem- 
plated the wholesale slaughter of the white population and the 
occupation of the country by the blacks. 

"Every slave enlisted was sworn to secrecy. Household 
servants were rarely trusted. Talkative and intemperate 
persons were not enlisted. Women were excluded from par- 
ticipation in the affair that they might take care of the chil- 
dren. Peter Poyas, it is said, had enlisted six hundred with- 
out assistance. 

"During the excitement and the trial of the supposed con- 
spirators, rumor proclaimed all, and doubtless more than all 
the horrors of the plot. The city was to be fired in every 
quarter. The arsenal, in the immediate vicinity, was to be 
broken open, and the arms distributed to the insurgents and 
an universal massacre of the white inhabitants was to take 
place. Nor did there seem to be any doubt in the minds of 
the people that such would actually have been the result, had 
not the plot, fortunately, been detected before the time ap- 
427 Atlantic Monthly, vol. x, 339. 



360 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 

pointed for the outbreak. It was believed, as a matter of 
course, that every black in the city would join in the insur- 
rection, and that, if the original design had been attempted 
and the city taken by surprise, the negroes would have 
achieved an easy victory, nor does it seem at all impossible 
that such might have been, or yet may be the case, if any well 
arranged and resolute rising should take place." The plot 
failed because a negro, William Paul, "made enlistments 
without authority, and revealed the scheme to a house ser- 
vant. The leaders of this attempt at insurrection died as 
bravely as they had lived ; and it is one of the marvels of the 
remarkable affair, that none of this class divulged any of the 
secrets to the court. The men who did the talking were 
those who knew but little." 4L>S 

Two promoters of slave insurrections were born during the 
year 1800: John Brown and Nat Turner. The latter was 
born in Southampton County, Virginia, October 2d. Turner 
became a preacher, and later, saw visions. He saw visions 
of conflicts "between white spirits and black spirits engaged 
in battle; and the sun was darkened, the thunder rolled in 
the heavens, and blood flowed in the streams. . ." Af- 
terward he had another vision in which an angel told him that 
"the time is fast approaching when the 'first shall be last and 
the last first' " ; which he interpreted as foreshadowing the pro- 
motion of the blacks to control in public affairs, and the subor- 
dination of the whites. Encouraged by his conclusion, he de- 
termined to attempt the promotion of the blacks by eliminating 
the whites. In pursuance of this he planned a general uprising 
of the slaves and massacre of their white masters. His blow 
was struck on the night of August 21, 1831, near Jerusalem 
Court House, Virginia. 

Turner trusted his plans to four men : Sam Edwards, Hark 
Travis, Henry Porter, and Nelson Williams. After the plans 
had been completed, Turner made a speech appropriate to the 

428 Atlantic Monthly, vol. vii, 737. 



HIS GREAT ADVENTURE 361 

occasion. He said : "Our race is to be delivered from slavery. 
and God has appointed us as the men to do his bidding ; and let 
us be worthy of our calling. I am told to slay all the whites we 
encounter without regard to age or sex. We have no arms or 
ammunition but we will find these in the homes of our oppress- 
ors; and, as we go on, others can join us. Remember we do 
not go for the sake of blood and carnage, but it is necessary that 
in the commencement of this revolution, all the whites we meet 
should die, until we have an army strong enough to carry on 
the war on a Christian basis. Remember that ours is not war 
for robbery nor to satisfy our passions ; it is a struggle for free- 
dom. Ours must be deeds, not words. Then let us away to 
the scene of action." In his confession after sentence of death 
had been passed upon him, Turner described the scenes of the 
murders which they committed. Of the attack upon the home 
of Joseph Travis, his master, he said : 4 - u 

On returning to the house, Hark went to the door with 
an axe, for the purpose of breaking it open, as we knew we 
were strong enough to murder the family, should they be 
awakened by the noise; but, reflecting that it might create 
an alarm in the neighborhood, we determined to enter the 
house secretly, and murder them whilst sleeping. Hark got 
a ladder and set it against the chimney, on which I ascended, 
and, hoisting a window, entered and came down stairs, un- 
barred the doors, and removed the guns from their places. 
It was then observed that I must spill the first blood, on 
which, armed with a hatchet and accompanied by Will, I 
entered my master's chamber. It being dark, I could not 
give a death blow. The hatchet glanced from his head. He 
sprang from the bed and called his wife. It was his last 
word. Will laid him dead with a blow of his axe. 
After they had taken the lives of the Travis family, "they 
went from plantation to plantation, dealing death blows to every 
white man, woman and child they found." A list of the "dead 
< 29 Williams, History of the Negro Race in America, vol. ii, 88. 



362 JOHN BROWN: A CRITIQUE 

that have been buried" was published August 24th : At Mjs. 
Whitehead's, 7; Mrs. Waller's, 13; Mr. Williams's, 3; Mr. 
Barrow's, 2 ; Mr. Vaughn's, 5 ; Mrs. Turner's, 3 ; Mr. Travis's, 
5; Mr. J. Williams's, 5; Mr. Reece's, 4; names unknown, 10; 
total, 57." 

The news of the massacre spread rapidly, and the excited 
whites quickly armed themselves to suppress the insurrection. 
As a result, "Arms and ammunition were dispatched in wagons 
to the county of Southampton. The four volunteer companies 
of Petersburg, the dragoons and Lafayette Artillery Company 
of Richmond, one volunteer company from Norfolk and one 
from Portsmouth, and the regiments of Southampton and Sus- 
sex, were at once ordered out. The cavalry and infantry took 
up their line of march on Tuesday evening, while the artillery 
embarked on the steamer 'Norfolk' and landed at Smithfield." 430 
A Mr. Gray, to whom Turner made his confession, said of 
him : 

. . . I shall not attempt to describe the effects of his 
narrative, as told, and commented on by himself, in the con- 
demned hole of the prison ; the calm, deliberate composure 
with which he spoke of his late deeds and intentions ; the ex- 
pression of his fiend-like face, when excited by enthusiasm ; 
still bearing the stains of the blood of helpless innocence 
about him, clothed with rags and covered with chains, yet 
daring to raise his manacled hands to Heaven with a spirit 
soaring above the attributes of man. 

And yet, such were the phenomenal inconsistencies occurring 
in the philosophy of persons who professed, and who, perhaps, 
believed themselves to be humane, this negro's crime was ex- 
ultingly approved of by Brown's Eastern supporters. Mr. Wil- 
liam Lloyd Garrison, at a meeting called to witness "John 
Brown's resurrection" said in his speech: 

. . . As a peace man — an "ultra" peace man — I am 

prepared to say : "Success to every slave insurrection at the 

430 Richmond Inquirer, August 26, 1831. 



HIS GREAT ADVENTURE 363 

South, and in every slave country." And I do not see how 
I compromise or stain my peace profession in making that 
declaration. . . 431 



«i Villard, 560. 



CHAPTER XVI 

A SOLDIER OF THE CROSS 

No man can produce great things who is not thoroughly 
sincere in dealing with himself. . — Lowell 

The regular semi-annual term of the court of Jefferson Coun- 
ty, Virginia, began October 20th. Brown was taken into cus- 
tody on Tuesday, October 18th, and on Tuesday morning, 
October 25th, he was put on trial for his life. For this un- 
seemly haste the Virginia authorities have been censured. The 
spectacle of an old man, physically incapacitated, and suffering 
because of recent wounds, being rushed to trial without rea- 
sonable time and opportunity to even secure friendly counsel, 
justified harsh criticism, and did not fail to win sympathy for 
Brown from right thinking men in all sections of the country. 
Also, that wrong had much to do with promoting his "martyr- 
dom." It was, however, his right to the courtesies of judicial 
procedure, in such cases, rather than any of his legal rights, that 
was infringed. In his efforts to explain his purpose for being 
at Harper's Ferry he had not only, in effect, confessed his 
guilt of all the charges upon which he was being held for trial, 
but had sought to justify his conduct in relation to them. Mr. 
Greeley, in the Tribune of October 25th, wrote : 432 

As the Grand Jury of Jefferson County is already in ses- 
sion, the trial of Brown and his confederates may be ex- 
pected to take place at once, unless delay should be granted 
to prepare for trial, or a change of venue to some less ex- 
cited county should be asked for. Neither of these is prob- 
"2 Villard, 480. 



A SOLDIER OF THE CROSS 365 

able. The prisoners in fact have no defense, and their case 

will be speedily disposed of. 

The jurisdiction of the Federal courts in the premises, was 
not seriously considered. The State had never ceded to the 
United States its jurisdiction over the territory that Brown had 
taken possession of, in behalf of the Provisional Government, 
and from which he had directed his operations. The question 
was raised as an expedient, because the Federal court afforded 
better facilities for incriminating Brown's northern supporters, 
the men "higher up," than did the State courts. Later, it was 
agreed upon that Stevens should be surrendered to the United 
States for trial. Mr. Hunter, for the prosecution, announced 
the fact, in court, November 7th, saying, that they were now- 
after "higher and wickeder game." 433 But when, on Decem- 
ber 15th, the President inquired by wire whether Stevens had 
been so surrendered, the prosecution hesitated ; Mr. Hunter re- 
plying : 

Stevens has not been delivered to the authorities of the 

United States. Undetermined as yet whether he will be 

tried here. 343 

December 8th, Governor Wise wrote to Mr. Hunter: 
In reply to yours of the 15th. I say definitely that Stevens 

ought not to be handed over to the Federal authorities for 

trial. . . I hope you informed the President of the status 

of his case before the court. 435 

The political necessity for trying Stevens in the Federal 
court, was obviated by Congress. December 14th. a select com- 
mittee of the Senate was appointed to "inquire into the late in- 
vasion and seizure of public property at Harper's Ferry." It 
was clothed with authority to investigate the whole subject. The 
members were Mason, of Virginia, chairman ; Davis, of Missis- 
sippi ; Fitch, of Indiana; Doolittle, of Wisconsin; and Colla- 
rs Villard, 478. 

"4 Ibid. 

«s Ibid. 



366 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 

mer, of Vermont; the majority being pro-slavery. The find- 
ings of the committee constitute the Mason Report, referred to 
in this book. 

At the preliminary examination, the presiding justice of the 
peace, Mr. Braxton Davenport, appointed as counsel for Brown 
Mr. Charles J. Faulkner and Mr. Lawson Botts. Mr. Faulk- 
ner was present at Harper's Ferry during the trouble, and 
thought it would be improper for him to represent the prisoners 
as counsel. He was therefore excused, and Mr. Thomas G. 
Green was appointed in his stead. Mr. Villard states that in 
"Messrs. Green and Botts, John Brown had assigned to him 
far abler counsel than would have been given to an ordinary 
malefactor." Brown's reply to the Court when asked if he 
had counsel is deserving of a place in this history. It was 
worthy of a leader of a lost cause. Though feebly rising to 
his feet, he said with defiant spirit : 436 

Virginians: I did not ask for any quarter at the time I 
was taken. I did not ask to have my life spared. The Gov- 
ernor of the State of Virginia tendered me his assurance 
that I should have a fair trial, but under no circumstances 
whatever, will I be able to attend to my trial. If you seek 
my blood you can have it at any moment without this mock- 
ery of a trial. 

I have had no counsel. I have not been able to advise 
with any one. I know nothing about the feelings of my 
fellow-prisoners, and am utterly unable to attend in any way 
to my own defense. My memory don't serve me, my health 
is insufficient ; although improving. 

If a fair trial is to be allowed us, there are mitigating cir- 
cumstances, that I would urge in our favor. But, if we are 
to be forced with a mere form, — a trial for execution, — 
you might spare yourselves that trouble. I am ready for my 
fate. I do not ask a trial, I beg for no mockery of a trial — 
no insult — Nothing but that which conscience gives, or 
cowardice drives you to practice. 
436 Redpath. 292. 



A SOLDIER OF THE CROSS 367 

I ask again to be excused from a mockery of a trial. 1 do 

not know what the special design of this examination i->. I 

do not know what the benefit of it is to this Commonwealth. 

I have now little further to ask, other than that I may be not 

foolishly insulted, only as cowardly barbarians insult those 

that fall into their power. 

When the question relating to counsel was submitted to 
Stevens, he promptly accepted the gentlemen named and the 
examination was proceeded with. 

At 2 o'clock the preliminary court of examination reported 
its findings, and the presiding judge, Hon. Richard Parker, of 
the circuit court, at once submitted the case to the grand jury 
in an able and dispassionate address. At noon the next day, 
the 26th, a true bill was returned against each of the prisoners 
on the following counts : For "Treason to the commonwealth" ; 
for "conspiring with slaves to commit treason" ; and for "mur- 
der." After the noon hour the defendants were brought into 
court to plead to the indictments. Brown, refusing to appear 
voluntarily, was carried into the court room on a cot. He then 
made a plea for delay. 

Mr. Hunter objected to consideration of Brown's plea until 
after the arraignment had been made. The Court held that 
the indictment should first be read, so that the prisoners could 
plead guilty or not guilty ; after that he would consider Brown's 
request. Each prisoner pleaded not guilty and having de- 
manded separate trials, the State chose to try Brown first. 

The Court did not take the question of Brown's guilt or in- 
nocence seriously. The trial was simply to be a dignified con- 
formance with the laws of the Commonwealth relating to the 
subject. Except as to respect for this formality, it was nol 
considered important whether Brown had any counsel at all. 
On the 22d of October, Mr. Hunter, in a letter to Governor 
Wise said : 

The Judge is for observing all the judicial decencies; so 

am I. but in double quick time. . . Stephens will hardly 



368 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 

be fit for trial. He will probably die of his wounds if we 
don't hang him promptly. 437 

Immediately upon the announcement by the Court that 
Brown should have a fair trial, arrangements were made to 
provide friendly counsel for his defense. First, Mr. J. W. 
Le Barnes, of Boston, at his personal expense, employed Mr. 
George H. Hoyt, a young lawyer of Athol, Massachusetts, to 
go to Charlestown and represent Brown in the dual capacity of 
counsel and spy. His instructions were, "first, to watch and be 
able to report proceedings, to see and talk with Brown, and be 
able to communicate with his friends anything Brown might 
want to say; and second, to send me (Le Barnes) an accurate 
and detailed account of the military situation at Charlestown, 
the number and the distribution of the troops, the location and 
defences of the jail; the opportunities for a sudden attack and 
the means of retreat, with the location and situation of the room 
in which Brown is confined," etc. 438 

Hoyt arrived at Charlestown on Thursday night, and on 
Friday morning, October 28th, reported to the Court and asked 
to be made additional counsel. His youth and his evident in- 
efficiency, aroused a suspicion, on the part of Mr. Hunter, that 
he came as a spy rather than as counsel. 439 He accordingly 
asked that Hoyt be excluded from participating in the trial. 
In this he was overruled. The same day he reported to Gov- 
ernor Wise that a "beardless boy came in last night as Brown's 
counsel." And that he thought "he is a spy." 440 October 
21st, Brown wrote letters, similar in character, to Judge Dan- 
iel Tilden, of Cleveland, Ohio, and to Hon. Thomas Russell, 
of Boston, asking them to appear for him as counsel, saying : 
"I am here a prisoner, with several sabre-cuts on my head and 
bayonet stabs in my body." 441 In response to his request, Judge 

437 Villard, 485. 
438 Villard, 484. 

439 lb id. 

440 Villard, 485. 

441 Sanborn, 588. 



A SOLDIER OF THE CROSS 369 

Tilden secured the services of Mr. Hiram Griswold, of Cleve- 
land, to appear in his stead. The latter arrived at Charlestown, 
Saturday morning, October 29th. At the same time Mr. Sam- 
uel Chilton, of Washington, D. C, also arrived, and upon 
reporting to the Court, these two distinguished lawyers were 
assigned as counsel to Brown's staff. Air. Chilton came upon 
the solicitation of Mr. John A. Andrew, of Boston. 442 Judge 
Russell did not arrive until November 2d. 

On Thursday morning, October 27th, the trial was begun 
with a surprise for the prosecution — Mr. Botts reading a tele- 
gram, which stated that insanity was hereditary in Brown's 
family ; that his mother's sister had died while insane, and that 
a daughter of that sister had been two years in a lunatic asylum, 
and citing other instances of insanity in the family. 443 

Mr. Botts then stated, "That upon receiving the above dis- 
patch he went to the jail, with his associate, Mr. Green, and 
read it to Brown, and was desired by him to say that in his 
father's family there has never been any insanity at all. On 
his mother's side there have been repeated instances of it. . . 
Brown also desires his counsel to say that he does not put in a 
plea of insanity." 444 

His counsel again moved for a continuance, and, doubtless, 
pleaded the insanity phase of the question in support of the 
motion. Upon the conclusion of Mr. Botts's remarks. Brown 
raised up on his couch and said : 

I will add, if the court will allow me, that I look upon it as 
a miserable artifice and pretext of those who ought to take a 
different course in regard to me, if they took any at all, and I 
view it with contempt more than otherwise. Insane persons. 
so far as my experience goes, have but little ability to judge 
of their own sanity; and if I am insane, of course I should 
think I knew more than all the rest of the world. But 1 do 
not think so. I am perfectly unconscious of insanity, and 1 

442 Mason Report. 138. 
4 «viiiard, 506. 
414 Redpath, 509. 



370 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 

reject, so far as I am capable, any attempts to interfere in my 
behalf on that score. 445 

Mr. Griswold, however, after coming into the case, revived 
the question of Brown's sanity, and on November 7th, enclosed 
to the Governor a petition and an affidavit affirming the claim 
that Brown was insane. 44 * Replying to this letter, Mr. Villard 
states that the Governor replied that "a plea of insanity could 
be filed at any time before conviction or sentence, and wrote 
an admirable letter to Dr. Stribbling, superintendent of the 
lunatic asylum at Staunton, Virginia, ordering him to pro- 
ceed to Charlestown and examine the prisoner, saying' : 'If 
the prisoner is insane he ought to be cured ; and if not insane 
the fact ought to be vouched for in the most reliable form, now 
that it is questioned under oath and by counsel since convic- 
tion.' Unfortunately, the impetuous Governor countermand- 
ed these instructions and the letter was never sent." 

Later, acting upon the advice of Mr. Montgomery Blair, 
the defence secured nineteen affidavits made by friends living 
at Akron, Cleveland, and Hudson, Ohio, in support of the 
plea. These affidavits were delivered to Governor Wise by Mr. 
Hoyt, on the 23d day of November. Mr. Villard states that 
"these people in their efforts to save Brown laid bare some sad 
family secrets." However, upon this very important phase of 
Brown's condition Governor Wise had an opinion of his own. 
To the Virginia Legislature he said: "I know that he was 
sane, if quick and clear perception, if assumed rational premises 
and consecutive reasoning from them, if cautious tact in avoid- 
ing disclosures and in covering conclusions and inferences, if 
memory and conception and practical common sense, and if 
composure and self-possession are evidence of a sound state of 
mind. He was more sane than his promptors and promoters, 
and concealed well the secret which made him seem to do an act 

445 Villard, 507. 
* 4G Ibid. 



A SOLDIER OF THE CROSS 371 

of mad impulse, by leaving him, without his hackers, at Har- 
per's Ferry." 44T 

Brown's line of defense is set forth in a memorandum of 
suggestions which he personally prepared for the guidance oi 
his counsel. 448 It reads as follows : 

JOHN BROWN'S DIRECTIONS TO HIS COUNSKI. 

We gave to numerous prisoners perfect liberty. Get 
the names. 

We allowed numerous other prisoners to visit their fam- 
ilies, to quiet their fears. Get all their names. 

We allowed the conductor to pass his train over the bridge 
with all his passengers, I myself crossing the bridge with 
him, and assuring all the passengers of their perfect safety. 
Get that conductor's name, and the names of the passengers, 
so far as may be. 

We treated all our prisoners with the utmost kindness and 
humanity. Get all their names, so far as may be. 

Our orders from the first and throughout, were, that no 
unarmed person should be injured under any circumstances 
whatever. Prove that by ALL the prisoners. 

We committed no destruction or waste of property. Pn 
that. 

The defense began Friday afternoon. Mr. Villard states 
that Messrs. Botts and Green, following John Brown's sugges- 
tion, "essayed to prove, the kindness with which Brown treated 
his prisoners," which drew from M.r. Hunter the "caustic and 
truthful comment that testimony as to Brown's forbearance in 
not shooting other citizens had no more to do with the case 
than had the dead languages." 

Mr. Hunter's objections being overruled, a number «>t 
Brown's witnesses were examined to show that he had not onl) 
not killed his prisoners and everybody else who came within 
the range of his rifles, but that he had treated all courteously, 

*« Villard, 509. 
448 Redpath, 325. 

24 



372 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 

notwithstanding the fact that his enemies had fired upon his flag 
of truce, and had killed one of his men, William Thompson, 
while he was a prisoner in their hands. 

A scene was precipitated at the trial when the names of some 
of his witnesses were called and it was found that they were not 
present; Brown thereupon arose and, denouncing his counsel, 
demanded that the proceedings be deferred until the next morn- 
ing. A Herald correspondent stated : 449 

When Brown rose and denounced his counsel, declaring 
that he had no confidence in them, the indignation of the 
citizens scarcely knew bounds. He was stigmatized as an 
ungrateful villain, and some declared he deserved hanging 
for that act alone. His counsel, Messrs. Botts and Green, 
had certainly performed the unpleasant task imposed upon 
them by the Court in an able, faithful and conscientious man- 
ner; and only the evening before Brown had told Mr. Botts 
that he was doing even more for him than he had promised. 

Mr. Hoyt, of Brown's counsel, added to the interest of the 
scene by asking that the case be postponed. Anticipating that 
his colleagues would withdraw from the case as a result of 
Brown's speech, he said that he was utterly unable to go on 
with the case alone and that Judge Tilden, of Ohio, was coming 
to assist the defense, and would arrive during the night. Coun- 
sel Botts and Green, after asserting that they had done every- 
thing possible for their client, announced, that since the prisoner 
had no confidence in them they could no longer act in his behalf. 
Judge Parker thereupon released them, as counsel, and ad- 
journed the trial until the next day at 10 o'clock. 450 

When court convened Saturday morning, Mr. Griswold and 
Mr. Chilton appeared for Brown, and asked for delay — a few 
hours only — in which to make some preparation for the de- 
fense, which was refused. "This term will end very soon," 
the Judge said, "and it is my duty to endeavor to get through 

« 9 Villard, 492. 
450 Ibid. 



A SOLDIER OF THE CROSS 2>72> 

with all the cases if possible, in justice to the prisoners and to 
the State." 

With the examination of a few additional witnesses, the testi- 
mony for the defense closed and the battle of wits began with a 
motion by Mr. Chilton, that the State be compelled to elect 
one count in the indictment and abandon the others. That 
Brown was charged with treason, and with conspiracy and ad- 
vising with slaves and others to rebel, and with murder in the 
first degree. He contended, and cited authorities to sustain his 
contention, that in a case of treason, different descriptions of 
treason could not be united in the same indictment ; high treason 
could not be associated with other treason. If an inferior grade 
of the same character could not be included in separate count-, 
still less could offense of higher grade, etc., etc., etc. Mr. Hard- 
ing, associate counsel for the prosecution, of course, could not 
see the force of the objection made by the learned counsel on the 
other side. The separate offenses charged were but different 
parts of the same transactions. "Murder arose out of the trea- 
son as the natural result of the bloody conspiracy." Mr. Hunter 
said the discretion of the Court on one count in the indictment 
is only exercised where great embarrassment would otherwise 
result to the prisoner. The Court held that the point might be 
taken advantage of to move an arrest of judgment ; but since the 
jury had been charged, and had been sworn to try the prisoners 
on the indictment as drawn, the trial must go on. . . The 
very fact that the defense can be charged in different counts, 
varying the language and circumstances, is based upon the idea 
that distinct offenses may be charged in the same indictment. 
The prisoners are to be tried on the various counts as if they 
were various circumstances, etc. Mr. Chilton then said he 
would reserve the motion as a basis for a motion in arresl ol 
judgment. 451 

Mr. Griswold then stated that the prisoner desired that the 



«i Redpath, 331-339. 



374 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 

case be argued, and that while he had not been present at the 
trial, counsel could obtain sufficient knowledge of the evidence 
by reading the notes ; and since it was nearly dark, he supposed 
argument for the Commonwealth would engage the attention of 
the Court until the usual hour of adjournment; and asked that 
the Court adjourn after the opening argument by the prosecu- 
tion. Mr. Hunter opposed opening the argument "unless the 
case was to be finished to-night," and protested against any 
further delay. The Court ordered the trial to proceed, but at 
the close of Mr. Hunter's speech, of forty minutes' duration, 
adjournment was had until Monday. Brown sought by all the 
means in his power on Saturday, to delay the trial, and when 
court convened after noon he sent word from the jail that he 
was sick; whereupon the jail physician, Dr. Mason, was sum- 
moned in the case. He reported that Brown was feigning ill- 
ness. The Court then directed that he be brought into court on 
a cot. Mr. Hunter states that after the adjournment was pro- 
cured, the "crafty old fiend was well enough to walk." 

On Monday, at 1 :30 p. m., the argument was completed. Mr. 
Chilton asked the Court to instruct the jury that if they be- 
lieved the prisoner was not a citizen of Virginia, but of another 
State, they could not convict on a count of treason. The Court 
declined, saying the Constitution did not give rights and im- 
munities alone, but also imposed responsibilities. 

At 2:15 the jury returned their verdict of guilty. It was 
received in respectful silence ; no demonstration of satisfaction 
or evidence of elation greeted the announcement. Of its re- 
ception by the people in waiting Mr. Villard says : "It is to the 
credit of the Charlestown crowd and of Virginia that not a 
single sound of elation or triumph assailed the dignity of the 
court, when the jury sealed Brown's doom. In solemn silence 
the crowd heard Mr. Chilton make his formal motion for an 
arrest of judgment, because of errors in the indictment and in 
the verdict, and it filed out equally silent when Judge Parker 
ordered the motion to stand over until the next day." 



A SOLDIER OF THE CROSS 375 

One person was dissatisfied with Brown's trial ; nol the pris- 
oner — for he acknowledged the deep sense of his obligation, to 
both Court and counsel, for the treatment he had received — 
but Mr. James Redpath. He said : 

I do not intend to pollute my pages with any sketch of the 
lawyers' pleas. They were able, without doubt, and erudite, 
and ingenious ; but they were founded, nevertheless, on an 
atrocious assumption. For they assumed that the statutes of 
the State were just; and, therefore if the prisoner should be 
proven guilty of offending against them, that it was right 
that he should suffer the penalty they inflict. This doctrine 
every Christian heart must scorn ; John Brown, at least, de- 
spised it ; and so also, to be faithful to his memory, and my 
own instincts, must I. 452 

On November 1st the Court heard Mr. Chilton's motion in 
arrest of judgment ; reserving its decision upon it until the next 
day. During the afternoon of November 2d, Brown was 
brought into court for the final scene of the trial. After Mr. 
Chilton's motion had been overruled. Brown was ordered to 
rise, and when asked by the clerk if he had anything to say why 
sentence should not be pronounced upon him, he delivered the 
following address : * Ss 

I have, may it please the Court, a few words to say. In 
the first place, I deny everything but what I have all along 
admitted, — the design on my part to free the slaves. 1 in- 
tended certainly to have made a clean thing of that matter, 
as I did last winter, when I went into Missouri and there 
took slaves without the snapping of a gun on either side, 
moved them through the country, and finally left them in 
Canada. I designed to have done the same thing again, on 
a larger scale. That was all I intended. 1 never did intend 
murder, or treason, or the destruction of property, or t«> ex- 
cite or incite slaves to rebellion, or to make insurrection. 
I have another objection: and that is, it is unjust that 1 

*62 Redpath, 334. 
'•'•'< Redpath. 340-342. 



376 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 

should suffer such a penalty. Had I interfered in the man- 
ner which I admit, and which I admit has been fairly proved 
(for I admire the truthfulness and candor of the greater por- 
tion of the witnesses who have testified in this case), — had 
I so interfered in behalf of the rich, the powerful, the intel- 
ligent, the so-called great, or in behalf of any of their friends, 
— either father, mother, brother, sister, wife, or children, or 
any of that class, — and suffered and sacrificed what I have 
in this interference, it would have been all right ; and every 
man in this court would have deemed it an act worthy of re- 
ward rather than punishment. 

This court acknowledges, as I suppose, the validity of the 
law of God. I see a book kissed here which I suppose to be 
the Bible, or at least the New Testament. That teaches me 
that all things whatsoever I would that men should do to me, 
I should do even so to them. It teaches me, further, to "re- 
member them that are in bonds, as bound with them." I en- 
deavored to act up to that instruction. I say, I am yet too 
young to understand that God is any respecter of persons. 
I believe that to have interfered as I have done — as I have 
always freely admitted I have done — in behalf of His de- 
spised poor, was not wrong, but right. Now, if it is deemed 
necessary that I should forfeit my life for the furtherance 
of the ends of justice, and mingle my blood further with the 
blood of my children and with the blood of millions in this 
slave country whose rights are disregarded by wicked, cruel, 
and unjust enactments, — I submit; so let it be done! 

Let me say one word further. 

I feel entirely satisfied with the treatment I have received 
on my trial. Considering all the circumstances, it has been 
more generous that I expected. But I feel no consciousness 
of guilt. I have stated from the first what was my intention, 
and what was not. I never had any design against the life 
of any person, nor any disposition to commit treason, or ex- 
cite slaves to rebel, or make any general insurrection. I 
never encouraged any man to do so, but always discouraged 
any idea of that kind. 

Let me say, also, a word in regard to the statements made 



A SOLDIER OF THE CROSS 377 

by some of those connected with me. I hear it has been 
stated by some of them that I have induced them to join me. 
But the contrary is true. I do not say this to injure them, 
but as regretting- their weakness. There is not one of them 
but joined me of his own accord, and the greater part of 
them at their own expense. A number of them I never saw, 
and never had a word of conversation with, till the day they 
came to me ; and that was for the purpose I have stated. 
Now I have done. 

Judge Parker then pronounced the sentence of death upon 
Brown, fixing the 2d of December, 1859, as the date for the 
execution of it. and directing that the execution should be pub- 
lic. He then ordered all persons present to remain in their 
seats until the prisoner was removed. "There was prompt 
obedience and John Brown reached his cell unharmed, without 
even hearing a taunt." 454 

There is conflict between the "authorities" as to the manner 
in which Brown delivered his speech to the Court. In describ- 
ing the scene, Mr. Villard gave rein to his bias in this choice 
flight : 

Drawing himself up to his full stature, with flashing 

eagle eyes and calm, clear and distinct tones, John Brown 

again addressed, not the men who surrounded him but the 

whole body of his countrymen, North, South, East and 

West. 455 

Air. Redpath, who has not, in this history, overlooked any 
favorable opportunity to indulge his penchant, is not a bit dra- 
matic in his statement of what occurred. He says that when 
the clerk directed Brown to stand and say why sentence should 
not be passed upon him, that "he rose and leaned slightly for- 
ward, his hands resting on the table. He spoke timidly — hes- 
itatingly, indeed — and in a voice singularly gentle and mild. 
But his sentences came confused from his mouth, .and be seemed 
to be wholly unprepared to speak at this time. Types can give 

is* Villard, 500. 
455 Villard. 497. 



378 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 

no intimation of the soft and tender tones, yet calm and manly 
withal, that filled the Court room, and, I think touched the 
hearts of many who had come only to rejoice at the heaviest 
blow their victim was to suffer." 458 

It appears then, that Mr. Villard has framed and given out 
an exaggeration of the performance; but it is unfortunate 
that the subject-matter of the speech, fails to measure up to the 
height of the exalted standard which has been set for the occa- 
sion. When one to whom a prodigal biographer has attributed 
a pair of flashing eagle eyes, draws himself up to his full stature, 
and addresses the whole body of his countrymen, he ought to 
be truthful as well as dramatic. It is bad form for an orator un- 
der such circumstances, to make statements which are not true ; 
it mars the dignity of his utterances, and dwarfs the stateliness 
of his eloquence. Also, it is embarrassing for a hero to be 
compelled to retract his more heroic periods, as in this case, 
after they have "thrilled the world." 

On the 18th of October, Brown, in answer to a question, had 
distinctly stated to Governor Wise and others, that it was not 
his purpose to run the slaves out of the country; but that he 
"designed to put arms in their hands to defend themselves 
against their masters, and to maintain their position in Vir- 
ginia and in the South. That, in the first instance, he expected 
they and the non-slave-holding whites would flock to his stand- 
ard as soon as he got a footing there, at Harper's Ferry; and. 
as his strength increased, he would gradually enlarge the area 
under his control, furnishing a refuge for the slaves, and a ren- 
dezvous for all whites who were disposed to aid him, until event- 
ually he overrun the whole South. . ." 457 

Later, when Governor Wise called Brown's attention to the 
discrepancy between these statements and the statement which 
he had made in the opening paragraph of his speech to the Court 
on November 2d, he retracted what he had said to the Court, 

458 Redpath, 340. 

'• ,T Mas<ni Report. Tistimony of Andrew Hunter. 



A SOLDIER OF THE CROSS 379 

and wrote the following letter, to Mr. Hunter, explaining the 
dereliction : 458 

Charlestown Jefferson County, Va. 

November 22, 1859. 
Dear Sir : 1 have just had my attention called to a seem- 
ing confliction between the statement I made to Gov- 
ernor Wise and that which I made at the time 1 received my 
sentence, regarding my intentions respecting the slaves we 
took about the Ferry. There need be no such confliction, 
and a few words of explanation will. 1 think, be quite suffi- 
cient. I had given Governor Wise a full and particular 
account of that, and when called in court to say whether 1 
had anything further to urge, I was taken wholly by sur- 
prise, as I did not expect my sentence before the others. 
In the hurry of the moment, I forgot much that 1 had before 
intended to say, and did not consider the full bearing of what 
/ then said. I intended to convey the idea, that it was my 
object to place the slaves in a condition to defend their liber- 
ties, if they would, without any bloodshed, but nut that 1 in- 
tended to run them out of the slave States. I was not aware 
of any such apparent confliction until my attention was 
called to it, and I do not suppose that a man in my then cir- 
cumstances should be superhuman in respect to the exact pur- 
port of every word he might utter. What 1 said to Gov- 
ernor Wise was spoken with all the deliberation I was ma- 
ter of, and was intended for the truth ; and what I said in 
court was equally intended for truth, but required a more 
full explanation than I then gave. Please make such use 
of this as you think calculated to correct any wrong im- 
pressions I may have given. 

Very respectfully yonrs. John Brown. 

Andrew Hunter, Esq., Present. 
Mr. Emerson, in his oration at the funeral services of Abra- 
ham Lincoln, held at Concord, April 19th, 1865. saw tit to com- 
pare Brown's discredited speech with the greatesl "rations of 
time. He said : 



4r,s Sanborn. 584. 



380 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 

His speech at Gettysburg- will not easily be surpassed by 
words on any recorded occasion. This and one other Amer- 
ican speech, that of John Brown to the court that tried him, 
and a part of Kossuth's speech at Birmingham, can only be 
compared with each other, and with no fourth. 459 

But is this comparison really relevant? Will the historian 
accept Mr. Emerson's comparison of this exhibit of Brown's 
prevarication, with the immortal words of the immortal Lin- 
coln? The speeches are characteristic of the men who uttered 
them. Mr. Lincoln did not begin his sublime oration with a 
falsehood. Brown made a speech October 25th, which was 
truly an heroic utterance and deserving of a place in history. 460 
His words on that occasion, were hurled at his enemies, the 
"Virginians" whom he addressed. That speech was as char- 
acteristic of his splendid courage, as his speech of November 
2d, was of his craftiness, for John Brown was as brave as he 
was crafty. 

In a letter to Governor Wise, Mr. Fernando Wood commend- 
ed him for the firmness and moderation which had characterized 
the Governor's course in the emergency, and asked, if he dared 
to "do a bold thing and temper justice with mercy? Have you 
nerve enough to send Brown to State's Prison instead of hang- 
ing him?" He thought Brown should not be hung, "though 
Seward should, and would be if he could catch him." The 
Governor replied that he had nerve enough to send him to prison 
and would do so if he didn't think he ought to be hung and that 
he would be inexcusable for mitigating his punishment. "I 
could do it," he said, "without flinching, without a quiver of a 
muscle against a universal clamor for his life." Continuing he 
said : "He shall be executed as the law sentences him, and his 
body shall be delivered over to surgeons, and await the resur- 
rection without a grave in our soil. I have shown him all the 
mercy which humanity can claim." 461 

* 59 Villard, 646, note 81. 

460 Ante, note 436. 

461 Villard, 502. 



A SOLDIER OF THE CROSS 381 

Immediately after Brown's incarceration, a movement was 
started by Mr. Higginson to have Mrs. Brown go to I Carper's 
Ferry to visit her "husband. But when the information reached 
Brown, he peremptorily forbade her coming; wiring Mr. I tig- 
ginson: "For God's sake don't let Mrs. Brown come. Send 
her word by telegraph wherever she is." 40 - 

This arbitrary action should not excite surprise. There was 
no atonement that Brown could make for the ruin which he had 
wrought : for the dead who would never return. There were 
no words that he could say which would carry consolation to this 
woman's stricken heart, nor was it possible for him to make any 
rift in the clouds of her unutterable, woe. He shrank, instinct- 
ively, from a presence of the bleeding heart of the woman 
whom he had wronged. November 9th, he wrote to Mr. 
Higginson : 

If my wife were to come here just now it would only tend 
to distract her mind TEN FOLD; and would only add to 
my affliction ; and can not possibly do me any good. It will 
also use up the scanty means she has to supply Bread & cheap 
but comfortable clothing, fuel, &c for herself & children 
through the winter. DO PERSUADE her to remain at 
home for a time (at least) till she can learn further from 
me. She will receive a thousand times the consolation AT 
HOME that she can possibly find elsewhere. I have just 
written her there & will write her CONSTANTLY. Her 
presence here would deepen my affliction a thousand fold. I 
beg of her to be calm and submissive ; & not to go wild on my 
account. I lack for nothing & was feeling quite cheerful 
before I heard she talked of coining on — I ask her to com- 
pose her mind & to remain quiet till the last of this month; 
out of pity to me. I can certainly judge better in the mat- 
ter than any one ELSE. My warmest thanks to yourself 
and all other kind friends. 

God bless you all. Please send this line to my afflicted 
wife by first possible conveyance. 403 

«2 ViHard, 513. 
483 Ibid. 



382 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 

In a letter addressed to his wife and children, dated Novem- 
ber 8th, he said : 464 

. . . I wrote most earnestly to my dear and afflicted 
wife not to come on for the present, at any rate. I will now 
give her my reasons for doing so. First, it would use up 
all scanty means she has, or is at all likely to have, to make 
herself and children comfortable hereafter. For let me tell 
you that the sympathy that is now aroused in your behalf 
may not always follow you. There is but little more of ihe 
romantic about helping poor widows and their children than 
there is about trying to relieve poor "niggers." Again, 
the little comfort it might afford us to meet agsin would be 
dearly bought by the pains of a final separation. We must 
part ; and I feel assured for us to meet under such dreadful 
circumstances would only add to our distress. If she comes 
on here, she must be only a gazing-stock throughout the 
whole journey, to be remarked upon in every look, word, and 
action, and by all sorts of creatures, and by all sorts of pa- 
pers, throughout the whole country. Again, it is my most 
decided judgment that in quietly and submissively staying 
at home vastly more of generous sympathy will reach her, 
without such dreadful sacrifice of feeling as she must put up 
with if she comes on. The visits of one or two female friends 
that have come on here have produced great excitement, 
which is very annoying ; and they cannot possibly do me any 
good. Oh, Mary! do not come, but patiently wait for the 
meeting of those who love God and their fellow-men, where 
no separation must follow. "They shall go no more out 
forever." I greatly long to hear from some one of you, and 
to learn anything that in any way affects your welfare. I 
sent you ten dollars the other day ; did you get it ? I have 
also endeavored to stir up Christian friends to visit and write 
to you in your deep affliction. I have no doubt that some of 
them, at least, will heed the call. Write to me, care of 
Captain John Avis, Charlestown, Jefferson County, Vir- 
ginia. . 



J 64 Sanborn, 586. 



A SOLDIER OF THE CROSS 383 

The thirty days ensuing November 2<1. were days of great 
anxiety for the Virginia authorities. It was natural that they 
should suspect that schemes would be formed to rescue Brown 
from his impending fate. In this they were not mistaken. In 
fact the planning to effect his rescue was begun as soon as it 
became known that he was not seriously wounded; and it is 
probable that something in this direction might have been at- 
tempted, if the schemers had received any encouragement from 
the prisoner. But to the man who had planned and dreamed 
of conquest, as Brown had planned, and dreamed, their schem- 
ing was the merest of trifling ; they had no conception of daring 
and striving, as he had dared and striven. As to heroic-, he 
was blase. In the collapse of his great undertaking he had had 
a surfeit of tragedies and disappointments. The heart of the 
man of iron was subdued. And there can be no doubt that, at 
this supreme hour in his life, the world looked small to John 
Brown. He had toyed with it as with a bauble, and was ready 
to throw it away. Besides, he had too often measured situa- 
tions, and calculated the chances for success against formidable 
odds, to waste any time with adventures such as. in his opinion, 
his rescuers were capable of executing. Hence, when Mr. 
Hoyt informed Brown. October 28th, that a plan was being 
formed to storm the jail and set the prisoners free, he promptly 
refused to encourage the attempt. Conveying Brown's reply 
to Mr. Le Barnes, October 30th, Mr. Hoyt wrote : 
There is no chance of his (Brown's) ultimate e 
there is nothing but the most unmitigated failure, and the 
saddest consequences which it is possible to conjure, to ensue 
upon an attempt at rescue. The country all around is 
guarded by armed patrols and a large body of troops are con- 
stantly under arms. If you hear anything about such an 
attempt, for Heaven's sake do not fail to restrain the enter- 
prise. 

The planning for his rescue, however, did not cease because 
Brown disapproved of any attempt being made to execute such 



384 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 

plans. Mr. Villard, on pages 511 to 528, gives a full and very 
interesting account of various schemes that were proposed to 
accomplish something, by force, in Brown's behalf ; as well as of 
the precautionary measures that were taken by the Virginians 
to prevent the possibility of a rescue. 

Mr. Stearns, thinking that Charles Jennison was a co-phi- 
lanthropist, sought to enlist him and James Stewart in one of 
these schemes. Naturally he received no reply. The plan for 
another Kansas rescue measure was to be communicated to 
Brown by a young Kansas woman — Miss Mary Partridge. 
She was to visit Brown in his cell at Charlestown ; embrace him 
affectionately and, incidentally, put a paper containing the plan 
of the rescue into his mouth. 465 

Mr. Lysander Spooner, of Boston, proposed to kidnap Gov- 
ernor Wise, carry him out to sea on a fast-going boat, and hold 
him as a hostage for Brown. Mr. Le Barnes worked out the 
scheme. He found the man who would undertake to execute 
the job; and a boat that would steam fifteen to eighteen knots 
an hour could be had for $5,000 to $7,000. The expedition 
would cost $10,000 to $15,000. But the necessary funds were 
not forthcoming and the scheme failed. Another plan was for 
an open invasion of Jefferson County, Virginia. The volun- 
teer forces that were coming from Kansas under Colonel Hin- 
ton, as reported by rumor, were to be consolidated with smaller 
forces that were being organized in Ohio, under John Brown, 
Jr., and to these were to be added the "volunteers from New 
York City and Boston." They were all to unite near Charles- 
town ; "make a cross country rush on that town and, after free- 
ing the prisoners, they were to seize the horses of the cavalry 
companies and escape." "Dr. Howe," it is said, "suggested 
that they be armed with 'Orisini' bombs and hand-grenades, in 
lieu of artillery." Money was wanted for this campaign, 
"fifteen hundred or two thousand dollars by Tuesday morning 
the 29th, and five hundred or a thousand dollars the day after. 

4 65 Villard, 514. 



A SOLDIER OF THE CROSS 385 

Mr. Le Barnes, Mr. James Redpath, and Mr. Sanborn seem 
to have been at the front, in the promotion of these visionary 
schemes. Mr. Hoyt, in the meantime, returned from a fruitless 
mission to Ohio, to raise funds, and reported that no money 
could be had in that quarter. Upon receiving this report Mr. 
Sanborn "gave up the undertaking and wired Le Barnes to 
return." 

October 31st, Brown wrote the following letter to his fam- 
ily : 466 

My Dear Wife, & Children Every One 

I suppose you have learned before this by the newspapers 
that Two weeks ago today we were fighting for our lives at 
Harpers ferry: that during the fight Watson was mortally 
wounded ; Oliver killed, Wm. Thompson killed, & Dauphin 
slightly wounded. That on the following day I was taken 
prisoner immediately after which I received several Sabre- 
cuts in my head ; & Bayonet stabs in my body. As nearly 
as I can learn Watson died of his wound on Wednesday the 
2d or on Thursday the 3d day after I was taken. 

Dauphin was killed when I was taken ; & Anderson I sup- 
pose also. I have since been tried, & found guilty of Treas- 
on, etc ; and of murder in the first degree. I have not yet 
received my sentence. No others of the company with whom 
you were acquainted were, so far as / can learn, either killed 
or taken. Under all these terrible calamities; I feel quite 
cheerful in the assurance that God reigns ; & will overrule all 
for his glory ; & the best possible good. I feel no conscious- 
ness of guilt in the matter; nor even mortification on account 
of my imprisonment; & irons; & I feel perfectly sure that 
very soon no member of my family will feel any possible dis- 
position to "blush on my account." Already dear friends at 
a distance with kindest sympathy are cheering me with the 
assurance that posterity at least will do me justice. I shall 
commend you all together, with my beloved ; but bereaved 
daughters in law, to their sympathies which I do not doubt 
will reach you. 
4«6 Villard, 537. 



386 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 

I also commend you all to Him "whose mercy endureth 
forever :" to the God of my fathers "whose I am ; & whom 
I serve." "He will never leave you nor forsake you," unless 
you forsake Him. Finally my dearly beloved be of good 
comfort. Be sure to remember & to follow my advice & 
my example too; so far as it has been consistent with the 
holy religion of Jesus Christ in which I remain a most firm, 
& humble believer. Never forget the poor nor think any- 
thing you bestow on them to be lost, to you even though 
they may be as black as Ebedmelch the Ethiopean eunuch who 
cared for Jeremiah in the pit of the dungeon; or as black 
as the one to whom Phillip preached Christ. Be sure to en- 
tertain strangers, for thereby some have — "Remember them 
that are in bonds as bound with them." I am in charge of a 
jailor like the one who took charge of "Paul & Silas" ; & you 
may rest assured that both kind hearts & kind faces are more 
or less about me ; whilst thousands are thirsting for my blood. 
"These light afflictions which are but for a moment shall work 
out for us a far more exceeding & eternal weight of Glory." 
I hope to be able to write you again. My wounds are doing 
well. Copy this and send it to your sorrow stricken broth- 
ers, Ruth ; to comfort them. Write me a few words in re- 
gard to the welfare of all. God Allmighty bless you all ; & 
"make you joyful in the midst of all your tribulations." 
Write to John Brown Charlestown Jefferson Co. Va, care of 
Capt John Avis. 

Your affectionate Husband and Father, 

John Brown. 

P. S. Yesterday Nov 2d. I was sentenced to be hanged 
on Decern 2d next. Do not grieve on my account. I am 
still quite cheerful. God bless you all. 

Yours ever J. Brown. 

This letter is written in the soft language and in the apparent- 
ly consecrated spirit that is characteristic of Brown's domestic 
and social correspondence. But the beauty of his lines is 
marred, and the sincerity of his purpose in putting them forth, 
as well as his claims to a Christian character, are discredited 



A SOLDIER OF THE CROSS 387 

by the falsehoods contained in the opening paragraph. Brown 

was not seriously hurt at Harper's Ferry. He received two 
wounds, a light dress-sword cut, on the neck and head, and a 
sword thrust in the body 4G7 and these he received, not after he 
had been taken prisoner, but while he was yet bravely fighting. 
Evidence of what he was doing, when he was struck down. 
appears in a letter which he wrote November 29th, to Mr. J. G. 
Anderson concerning one of his captains. He said : 4,M 

Jeremiah G. Anderson was fighting bravely by my side 

at Harper's Ferry up to the moment when I fell wounded. 

and I took no further notice of what passed for a little 

time. . . 

Brown may have written "the truth concerning his own spirit 
and composure, in this his first letter from the jail to his fam- 
ily," 469 but he did not write the truth concerning the character 
of his wounds, and the conditions under which he received 
them. 

With the freedom of correspondence that was granted to him 
came Brown's great opportunity, and the masterful manner in 
which he quickly turned it to his advantage is one of the marvels 
of this history. Equipped with a vocabulary of devotional 
phrases and an ample magazine of biblical quotations, this caged 
soldier of fortune, the would-be Catiline of his generation, 
stormed the heights of public opinion ; and disarming righteous- 
ness of its opposition to wrong, won a moral victory as marvel- 
ous as it was triumphant. These beautifully devotional letters, 
that stand as monuments, certifying to an humble Christian 
character, like flights in oratory, were written with regard for 
the effect which he desired to accomplish, but without regard 
for the truth of what he uttered. 

The opinion that the letters, which crowned Brown's char- 

467 See Appendix II. Recollection of Hon. Alexander R. Boteler of 
Virginia. 

468 Sanborn, 611. 
469 Villard, 537. 

«5 



388 JOHN BROWN: A CRITIQUE 

acter with a dignity akin to sancity, were artfully written, and 
were not characteristic of him, is not based merely upon a vul- 
gar suspicion. It finds ample justification in the reckless disre- 
gard for the truth which prevails throughout the entire series ; 
and in direct evidence. The invasion had failed. Wounded, 
and a prisoner in irons, with the gallows for his portion, Brown 
had the opportunty, which solitude affords, to contemplate the 
terrible disaster which had befallen him : the wreck of his hopes ; 
the ruin of his family ; their utter wretchedness, and the shame 
and humiliation which they suffered because of him. In his 
extremity, he planned how best to meet the problems of his en- 
vironment ; and, substituting the mightier pen for the sword of 
the great Frederick, which had been stricken from his hand, 
he began a systematic campaign for a martyr's crown, and for 
pecuniary assistance for his family, whenever a favorable oppor- 
tunity presented itself. 

November 10th, he disclosed to his wife the plan of this, his 
final conception : "I have been whipped as the saying is," he 
said, "but I am sure I can recover all the lost capital occasioned 
by the disaster ; by only hanging a few moments by the neck ; 
& I feel determined to make the utmost possible out of a defeat. 
I am dayly & hourly striving to gather up what little I may 
from the wreck." 470 

In reply to a letter from a kinsman, the Rev. Dr. Humphrey, 
of Pottsfield, Massachusetts, he wrote November 25th : 4T1 
I discover that you labor under a mistaken impression as 
to some important facts which my peculiar circumstances will 
in all probability prevent the possibility of my removing ; and 
I do not propose to take up any argument to prove that any 
motion or act of my life is right. But I will here state that 
I know it to be wholly my own fault as a leader that caused 
our disaster. . . 

If you do not believe I had a murderous iptention (while I 

*™Villard, 540. 
471 Sanborn, 603. 



A SOLDIER OF THE CROSS 389 

know I had not) why grieve so terribly on my account ? The 
scaffold has but few terrors for me. God has often covered 
my head in the day of battle, and granted me many times 
deliverances that were almost so miraculous that I can scarce 
realize the truth; and now, when it seems quite certain that 
he intends to use me shall I not most cheerfully go? I may 
be deceived, but I humbly trust that he will not forsake me 
"till I have showed his favor to this generation and hi> 
strength to every one that is to come." . . 
October 27th, a Quaker lady wrote to Brown from Newport, 
Rhode Island : 472 

Captain John Brown. 

Dear Friend: — Since thy arrest I have often thought of 
thee, and have wished that, like Elizabeth Fry toward her 
prison friends, so I might console thee in thy confinement. 
But that can never be ; and so I can only write thee a few 
lines which, if they contain any comfort, may come to thee 
like some little ray of light. . . 

Oh, I wish I could plead for thee as some of the other sex 
can plead, how I would seek to defend thee! If I now had 
the eloquence of Portia, how I would turn the scale in thy 
favor ! But I can only pray "God bless thee !" God pardon 
thee and through our Redeemer give thee safety and hap- 
piness now and always! From thy friend, E. B. 
Posing as if in the shadow of the sheltering wings of the 
Almighty, answering this letter. Brown asserted that he had 
been the special instrument on earth of a militant Christ, to 
execute the divine will in Kansas; and incidentally solicited a 
contribution for his family. He said : 4;:; 

. . . You know that Christ once armed Peter. 
also in my case I think he put a sword into my hand and 
there continued it so long as he saw best, and then kindly 
took it from me. I mean when I first went to Kansas. 1 
wish you could know with what cheerfulness I am now wield- 

472 Sanborn, 581. 

473 Sanborn, 582. 



390 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 

ing the "sword of the spirit" on the right hand and on the 
left. I bless God that it proves "mighty to the pulling down 
of strongholds." I always loved my Quaker friends and I 
commend to their regard my poor bereaved widowed wife 
and my daughters and daughters-in-law, whose husbands fell 
at my side. One is a mother and the other likely to become 
so soon. They, as well as my own sorrow stricken daugh- 
ters, are left very poor, and have much greater need of sym- 
pathy than I, who through Infinite Grace, and the great 
kindness of strangers, am "joyful in all my tribulations." 

Dear Sister, write to them at North Elba, Essex County, 
N. Y., to comfort their sad hearts. Direct to Mary A. 
Brown, wife of John Brown. . . 

It may be said of this unsophisticated woman, whose heart 
was touched by a sympathy undeserved, that if she had known 
what took place at the humble cabin of the Doyles on the night 
of May 24, 1856, when the murderous sword, which Brown 
says Christ placed in his hands, was run through Doyle's breast, 
(while others of the party secured the helpless widow's and 
orphans' horses) she would not have made her contribution to 
this history. Also, Brown's letter to this woman may be taken 
as an exhibit or sample of the sacrilege and artful dissimulation 
that is characteristic of his prison correspondence. And, since 
his claims to sincerity of purpose, and a devotion to humanity 
depend largely upon this correspondence, it discloses the fiction, 
wherewith his fame has been promoted. November 29th he 
wrote to his friend, Mrs. George L. Stearns : 474 

My Dear Friend, — No letter I have received since my 
imprisonment here, has given me more satisfaction, or com- 
fort, than yours of the 8, instant. I am quite cheerful ; & 
was never more happy. Have only time to write a word. 
May God forever reward you & all yours. My love to All 
who love their neighbors. I have asked to be spared from 
having any mock; or hypocritical prayers made over me, 
when I am publicly murdered : & that my only religious at- 

474 Sanborn, 610. 



A SOLDIER OF THE CROSS 391 

tendantsbe poor little, dirty, ragged, bareheaded & barefooted 
Slave Boys ; & Girls led by some old gray-headed Slave Moth- 
er. Farewell. Farewell. 

The last paper written by John Brown was handed to one of 
his guards in the jail on the morning of his execution. It 
read : 475 

I John Brown, am now quite certain that the crimes of 

this guilty land will never be purged away but with blood. 

I had as I now think, vainly flattered myself that without 

very much blood-shed it might be done. 

November 24th Governor Wise wrote to General Taliaferro, 
giving him directions as follows : 

Keep full guard on the line of the frontier from Mar- 
tinsburg to Harper's Ferry, on the day of 2d. Dec. Warn 
the inhabitants to arm and keep guard and patrol on that day 
and for days beforehand. These orders are necessary to 
prevent seizures of hostages. Warn the inhabitants to stay 
away and especially to keep the women and children at home. 
Prevent all strangers, and especially all parties of strangers, 
from proceeding to Charlestown on 2d of Dec. To this 
end station a guard at Harper's Ferry sufficient to control 
crowds on the cars from the East and West. Form two 
concentric squares around the gallows, and have a strong 
guard at the jail and for escort to execution. Let no crowd 
be near enough to the prisoner to hear any speech he may 
attempt. Allow no more visitors to be admitted to the 
jail. 476 

Appealing to the President for troops Governor Wise stated 
that he had reason to believe that an attempt would "be made to 
rescue the prisoners, and if that fails then to seize citizens of 
this State as hostages and victims in case of execution." 

In addition to the Virginia militia assembled at Charlestown 
December 2d, were a detachment, 264 men. from the Artillery 



•* 75 Sanborn, 620. 
4-sVillard. 523. 
*™ Villard, 527. 



392 JOHN BROWN: A CRITIQUE 

Corps, United States army, and the corps of cadets from the 
Virginia Military Institute at Lexington. These organizations 
were commanded, respectively, by two men who were soon to 
win great renown ; whose names were to become famous in the 
world's history for deeds of military glory : Colonel Robert E. 
Lee and Prof. Thomas J. Jackson. 

From the home of Mr. J. M. McKim, in Philadelphia, No- 
vember 21st, Mrs. Brown addressed a letter to the Governor 
asking for the "mortal remains of my husband and his sons" 
for burial, to which he replied as follows : 478 

I am happy, Madam, that you seem to have the wisdom 
and virtue to appreciate my position of duty. Would to God 
that "public considerations could avert his doom," for The 
Omniscient knows that I take not the slightest pleasure in 
the execution of any whom the laws condemn. May He 
have mercy on the erring and the afflicted. 

Enclosed is an order to Major Genl. Wm. B. Taliaferro, 
in command at Charlestown, Va. to deliver to your order, the 
mortal remains of your husband "when all shall be over" ; 
to be delivered to your agent at Harper's Ferry ; and if you 
attend the reception in person, to guard you sacredly in your 
solemn mission. 

With Tenderness and Truth, I am 
Very respectfully, your humble servant, 

Henry A. Wise. 
Under the authority of this letter, Mrs. Brown, in company 
with Mrs. McKim and Mr. Hector Tyndale, arrived at Har- 
per's Ferry, November 30th. There she received a telegram 
from the Governor giving her permission to visit her husband, 
alone, on the following day, stipulating that she return to Har- 
per's Ferry the same evening. She was, accordingly, driven 
to Charlestown the next afternoon in care of an escort — a ser- 
geant and eight men — of the Fauquier Cavalry, a captain of 
infantry occupying a seat beside her. When the time came for 
478 Villard, 549. 



A SOLDIER OF THE CROSS 393 

her to return, Brown begged that her visit might be extended 
until morning, but. under his orders, the general in command 
could not grant this request. The hour for the final parting 
had come; the heart-broken woman, with her grief, returned to 
Harper's Ferry to await the tragedy of the tomorrow. 

December 2d, about an hour before his execution. Brown 
disposed of the wreckage of his campaign supplies in a "will 
and codicil" which were written for him by Mr. Hunter.*™ It 
provided that all his property, being personal property, "which 
is scattered about in the States of Virginia and Maryland." 
should be carefully gathered up by his executor and "disposed 
of to the best advantage and the proceeds thereof paid over to 
his beloved wife, Mary A. Brown." He trusted that his right 
to such articles as were not of a "war-like character" and all 
other property that he might be entitled to might be respected. 
He appointed Sheriff James W. Campbell. "Executor of this 
my true last Will, hereby revoking all others." The document 
was sealed, and witnessed by John Avis, the jailer, and Andrew 
Hunter. 

At 10 :30 Brown was notified by the sheriff to prepare for the 
execution. He then visited his late companions in arms. To 
ail. except Hazlett and Cook, he gave such adieux as he could. 
in view of the painful circumstances into which he had led them. 
Hazlett he had refused to recognize when he was first brought 
before him in the prison, and continued to the end to deny that 
he had been a member of his band. As to Cook, the relations 
between them were not cordial. He had stated in his "con- 
fession" that Brown had sent him to Harper's Ferry in June, 
1858. This Brown denied; and charged Cook with having 
made false statements, saying, "you know I protested against 
your coming." To which Cook replied: "Captain Brown, 
you and I remember differently." Cook may have asked for 
the Harper's Ferry detail, but Brown must have consented to 
■»" Villard, 669. 



394 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 

the arrangement, for he furnished the money to defray the ex- 
penses of his going thereto. Cook secured valuable informa- 
tion there, which he reported to Brown, including, among other 
things, a census of the slave population of that vicinity. 480 

The spectacle which met Brown's gaze as he stepped upon the 
porch from the door of the jail on his way to the scaffold, could 
not otherwise than recall to his mind the dreams of conquest and 
of military glory which he had cherished. Three thousand men 
— infantry, cavalry, and artillery — were under arms. In ad- 
miration of the display — for the "street was full of marching- 
men," he said : "I had no idea that Governor Wise considered 
my execution so important," 481 and for that reason, Mr. Vil- 
lard says, "no little slave-child was held up for the benison of his 
lips, for none but soldiery was near." 

The undertaker's wagon, a two seated vehicle, drawn by 
two white horses, stood near, the driver and undertaker occu- 
pying the front seat. Brown took his place in the second seat 
between the sheriff — Campbell — and his jailer, Avis. The 
party then moved to the place of execution. The escort, under 
the command of Colonel T. P. August, consisted of a company 
of cavalry under Captain Scott, and a battalion of infantry under 
Major Loring. On the way to the field, Brown spoke only of 
unimportant things, the weather and the scenery. "This is a 
beautiful country," he is reported to have said, "I never had the 
pleasure of seeing it before." It was a solemn procession, and 
was void of any effects in heroic phraseology. 

The time was ripe for the final metamorphosis of John Brown. 
A blow of a hatchet cut the cord that linked him to earthly 
things : The Soldier of Fortune became the historical Soldier 
of the Cross. 



480 Mason Report, 47. 

481 Villard, 554. 



CHAPTER XVII 

"YET SHALL HE LIVE" 
Much ado about nothing. 



Sh \kksim:ari: 



John Brown's fame is an unearned increment. It was se- 
cured by misrepresentations put forth by himself and members 
of his family, and by the Disunionists — "Union-splitters" — 
of his time, who inspired his final actions. Through these agen- 
cies he acquired a creditable rating in history; not because of 
the things which he did; nor because of the things which he 
sought to do; but because of the things which were said about 
him ; and because of the things which were done to him. His 
fame is the result of an exploitation, in eloquent phrases, of 
virtues, purposes, and motives, which were attributed to him. 
It has thus been overcapitalized. The stock was watered. In 
respect to the truth of history, his fame is all "water.*' It was 
not based upon fact, but upon fancy ; upon untenable conclusions 
concerning his character, and wildly extravagant and irrelevant 
assumptions concerning his emotions. These are the sole as- 
sets to be found in the appraisement of his public estate. 

Of him Mr. Redpath said, in part : 

He was too large a man to stand on any platform. He 

planted his feet on the Rock of Ages — the Eternal truth — 

and was therefore never shaken in his policy or principles. 
He scouted the idea of rest while he held a commission 

direct from God Almighty to act against Slavery. 

Where the Republicans said, Halt! John Brown shouted. 

Forward! to the rescue! He was an abolitionist of the 

Bunker Hill school. 



396 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 

It did not concern Mr. Redpath that the "Bunker Hill" school 
of abolitionists were themselves slave-holders. 

Mr. Thoreau, who was also a Union-splitter, said : 

No man in America has ever stood up so persistently 
for the dignity of human nature, knowing himself for man 
and the equal of any and all governments. He could not 
have been tried by his peers, for his peers did not exist. 

He did not go to Harvard. He was not fed on the pap 
that is there furnished, but he went to the University of 
the West where he studied the science of Liberty, and hav- 
ing taken his degree, he finally commenced the practice of 
humanity in Kansas. 

Of Thoreau, Mr. Alcott wrote in his diary, Saturday, No- 
vember 5, 1859: 

. . . Thoreau talks freely and enthusiastically about 
Brown, denouncing the Union, the President, the States, 
and Virginia particularly ; wishes to publish his late speech, 
and has seen Boston publishers, but failed to find any to 
print it for him. 482 

Mr. Sanborn said : 

Such was the man — of the best New England blood, of 
the stock of the Plymouth Pilgrims, and bred up like them 
"in the nurture and admonition of the Lord" — who was 
selected by God, and knew himself to be so chosen, to over- 
throw the bulwark of oppression in America. He seems to 
have declared a definite plan of attacking slavery in one of 
its strongholds, by force, as early as 1839; and it was to 
obtain money for this enterprise that he engaged in land- 
speculations and wool-merchandise for the next ten or twelve 
years. . . Other men might have been spared but Brown 
was indispensable. 483 

Said Wendell Phillips : 

God makes him the text, and all he asks of our compara- 
tively cowardly lips is to preach the sermon, and say to the 

4 » 2 Sanborn, 506. 

483 Sanborn, Recollections of Seventy Years, 75. 



"YET SHALL HE LIVE" 397 

American people that, whether this old man succeeded in a 
worldly sense or not, he stood as a representative of law, of 
government, of right, of justice, of religion, and they were 
pirates that gathered about him, and sought to wreak venge- 
ance by taking his life. The banks of the Potomac are 
doubly dear now to History and to Man ! The dust of 
Washington rests there ; and History will see forever on that 
river side the brave old man on his pallet, whose dust, when 
God calls him hence, the Father of his Country would be 
proud to make room for beside his own. 

Mr. Higginson said : 

Such men as he needed are not to be found ordinarily ; 
they must be reared. John Brown did not merely look for 
men, therefore, he reared them in his sons. 

John A. Andrew, who did not believe that Brown was present 
or in any way connected with the robberies and murders on the 
Pottawatomie, said : 

Whatever may be thought of John Brown's acts, John 

Brown himself was right. 

The Rev. Theodore Parker, who believed in slave insurrec- 
tions and their horrors, wrote : 

Let the American State hang his body and the American 

Church damn his soul. Still, the blessing of such as are 

ready to perish will fall on him, and the universal justice of 

the Infinitely Perfect God will make him welcome home. 

The road to heaven is as short from the gallows as from the 

throne. 

Mr. Emerson said : 

That new saint, than whom none purer or more brave was 

ever led by love of men into conflict and death — the new 

saint awaiting his martyrdom, and who, if he shall suffer, 

will make the gallows glorious like the cross. 

Into a carnival of rhetoric so picturesque, Mr. John James 
Ingalls could not fail to enter the lists and compete for the prize. 
Poising his shining lance he delivered this thrust : 



398 JOHN BROWN: A CRITIQUE 

But the three men of this era who will loom forever 
against the remotest horizon of time, as the pyramids 
above the voiceless desert, or the mountain peaks above the 
subordinate plains, are Abraham Lincoln, Ulysses S. Grant 
and Old John Brown of Osawatomie. 
Victor Hugo said : 

The punishment of John Brown may consolidate slavery in 
Virginia, but it will certainly shatter the American Democ- 
racy. You preserve your shame but you kill your glory. 
Similar exhibits, in the hyperbolical optimism that constitutes 
this promotion by wind, might be added hereto indefinitely ; for 
the output of such fantastical flights was limited only by the 
boundaries of taste and imagination. Probably the best things 
have been said. But that does not wholly discourage the later 
generations. Emulation in the phrase making competition still 
places a premium upon inconsistency. Mr. Villard said fifty 
years after: 

In Virginia, John Brown atoned for Pottawatomie by the 
nobility of his philosophy and his sublime devotion to prin- 
ciple, even on the gallows. 

Perhaps nowhere else than in the peculiar philosophy of those 
who attribute virtue to Brown as a motive for vice, may we 
find nobility in dissimulation : atonement without reconciliation ; 
and the sublimity of devotion to principle in the denial of the 
truth. Awaiting death in the Charlestown jail, Brown denied 
that he had been a party to the murders and the robberies on the 
Pottawatomie ; and went from the gallows into the presence of 
the Almighty to answer for both his participation in that horror 
and for his repeated denials of having been personally concerned 
in it. 484 

December 10, 1911, Mr. Clyde McGee, of Chicago, said, 
among many other worked-over things : 

It grew upon him as he prayed, for John Brown was a 

«* Villard. 545. 



"YET SHALL HE LIVE" 399 

man who talked with God as confidently as a friend speaketh 
with friend. 485 

When Brown and his sons planned, during March and April 
and May, 1856, to steal Doyle's, and Wilkinson's, and other 
settlers' horses and leave the country; they planned, a> a pre- 
cautionary measure, to first make widows and orphans of tin- 
wives and children of these men, and then to steal the horses ; 
not from the dead men, but from the weeping women and help- 
less children. Who think you talked with Brown and his swag- 
gering sons as "friend speaketh with friend" during the time 
their plans were being made for these assassinations and rob- 
beries, and while they executed them : The Almighty, or the 
Devil ? Brown was not sure who it was that prompted him 
to incite the slaves to strike for their liberty, by assassinating 
their masters. He answered Mr. Vallandigham at Harper's 
Ferry : 

No man sent me here ; it was my own prompting and that 
of my Maker, or that of the Devil ; whichever you please to 
ascribe it to. I acknowledge no master in human form. 486 
Kansas has done much in honor of John Brown. An ass< >- 
ciation, organized for the purpose, erected a stately monument 
at Osawatomie, which was dedicated to his memory August 30, 
1877, by Kansas' most picturesque orator and statesman, the 
late John James Ingalls. Later, the patriotic women connected 
with the society of the Grand Army of the Republic, in Kansas. 
purchased the site of the Battle of Osawatomie. for a "State 
Park" ; which was dedicated, as such, by ex-President Theo- 
dore Roosevelt, August 30, 1910. Also, the State Legislature 
of 1895, authorized a society to place a statue of Brown in the 
national hall of fame. Statuary Hall, in the rotunda of the 
national capitol ; thus, to the world, certifying his lite and public 
services to have been the most conspicuous and illustrious of all 

485 The Chicago Reminder, vol. x, no. 5. 
««> Villard, 457. 



400 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 

its citizens. The text of the resolution concerning this statue 
is as follows : 

Whereas, The Lincoln Sailors' and Soldiers' National 
Monument Association now has in process of construction a 
statue or monument of John Brown ; and 

Whereas, Said association has made application to the 
authorities at Washington to have such monument put in 
statuary hall in the capitol building, and has been advised by 
the general government that before this permission could be 
granted a request from the legislature of the State of Kansas 
would be necessary : therefore, be it 

Resolved by the House of Representatives, the Senate Con- 
curring therein, That we hereby request the proper author- 
ities in charge of the United States Statuary hall, at Wash- 
ington, D. C, to permit such monument to be placed therein; 
be it further 

Resolved, That a copy of these resolutions be forwarded 
to each of our senators and representatives in Washington, 
D. C. 

For a reason unexplained by his later biographers, the au- 
thority to confer this honor upon Brown — the highest honor 
within the power of the State to bestow — was never exercised ; 
a delinquency which excites a suspicion that the resolution 
stated conditions, as existing, which did not exist. 

At the head of the schedule of assumptions concerning the 
innocence of Brown's intentions, the purity of his motives, and 
the exaltation of his devotion to humanity, is his "martyrdom." 
This item has been illuminated with a halo of holiness. As 
"Christ died to make men holy," so Brown is said to have died 
to "make men free." No one has claimed that Hugh Forbes 
was an humanitarian, or other than an adventurer. Yet in 
relation to Brown's insurrection, the minds of the two men — 
John Brown and Hugh Forbes — met in full accord ; there was 
agreement between them. Together they planned the invasion 
of the South, for the promotion of their personal fortunes. 



"YET SHALL HE LIVE" 401 

Their aims, their ambitions, and their hopes were identical. 
If Brown's exchequer had been ample, Forbes too would have 
appeared at Harper's Ferry and there would have been a pair 
of martyrs there : "Two of a kind." 

The logic of the fiction of his martyrdom is founded upon 
the assumption that Brown held an option upon his life which 
he elected to forfeit; and that he offered it as a sacrifice: that 
he chose to die, as the Redeemer of Men died : and in thus dy- 
ing made "the gallows glorious like the cross." Brown did not 
contemplate dying at Harper's Ferry any more than did 1 [ugh 
Forbes, or Stevens, or Cook, or Kagi : and he would not have 
died at Charlestown if he could have controlled the event. 
These men knew that some of them would, probably, die. but 
each passed the subject over lightly, believing that in some in- 
scrutable way, if fatalities occurred, it would be some of the 
others who would fall. Men of their type "die but once." 
Brown accepted the chances of war as did his followers, and as 
Forbes sought the opportunity of doing. Men who have sim- 
ilarly risked their lives, times almost without number, are not 
impressed by such martyrdoms. To his faithful Sanborn, 
Brown wrote: "I am now rather anxious to live for a tew 
years." 488 He desired to live to organize, and to command 
the army of the Provisional Government : and to be the head of 
a new nation : a new "United States." He hoped f< >r 1' mgevity, 
that he might wear the honors and enjoy the fame and the 
emoluments of his prospective achievement. 

The years of Brown's life were a constant, persistent, stren- 
uous struggle to get money. As to the means which should 
be employed in the getting of it. he was indifferent. In his 
philosophy, results were paramount: the means to the end were 
of no consequence. A stranger to honor, he violated every o >n- 
fidence that should be held sacred among men ; and in his avarice 
trampled upon every law. moral and statute, human and Di- 
* S8 Ante, note 281. 



402 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 

vine. Consistent with the speculative instinct so distinctly 
characteristic of his life, his greatest or principal object was to 
get money, and to get it quickly. 

Mr. Villard asserts that Brown's greatest or principal obiert 
was to assault slavery, and so entitles an important chapter in 
the recent biography. Assuming his premises to be correct, he 
commences the chapter with this inquiry : 

When was it that John Brown, practical shepherd, tanner, 
farmer, surveyor, cattle expert, real-estate speculator and 
wool merchant, first conceived what he calls in his autobio- 
graphy "his greatest or principal object" in life — the forci- 
ble overthrow of slavery in his native land ? The question is 
not an idle one, etc. 489 

The question, nevertheless, is an idle one. During the in- 
terview which Brown gave out at Harper's Ferry, October 
18th, Mr. Vallandigham asked him this pointed question: 
"How long have you been engaged in this business?" 490 To 
which Brown replied : 

From the breaking out of the difficulties in Kansas. Four 

of my sons had gone there to settle and they wanted me to 

go. 491 

Also, Brown stated over his signature, in March, 1859, that 
it was "since 1855" that it had been his judgment that the way 
to successfully oppose slavery "would be to meddle directly 
with the peculiar institution." 492 That he had the subject 
under consideration prior to 1845 is expressly discredited by 
Brown, in his autobiography, in the statement that he was 
"averse to military affairs" ; that he refused to "train or drill; 
but paid fines & got along like a Quaker until his age finally 
cleared him of military duty." 493 

489 Villard, 42. 

490 Sanborn, 562. 

491 Mr. Villard omits this question and answer from his account of the 
interview. 

* Q2 Ante, note 340. 
493 Autobiography, 433. 



"YET SHALL HELIX I. 403 

The record of Brown's life, prior to 1857, is barren oi any 
contemporaneous expression by him or by any member of his 
family which even remotely suggests the possibility that he 
might, have contemplated attempting a Forcible assault against 
slavery. If his mind had been preoccupied with a desire of 
such overshadowing importance the fact would have shone in 
the letters which he wrote to his children January 23, and Aug- 
ust 6, 1852, relating to the conduct of their lives."' 4 There is 
much, however, in this history which discredits the assumption 
that he gave the subject any consideration whatever. A man 
whose life was a "burning" devotion to an ambition so heroic 
as to become the "David of the Goliath of Slavery," ,M ought 
to have shown some personal interest in the matter: he should 
not have left it wholly to his panegyrists. It appears however 
that the peaceful "tanner and shepherd" was so unconscious of 
having any object in life worth living for that he "felt," during 
this time, "a strong and steady desire to die" ; 4 '"' a condition of 
mind wholly inconsistent with heroism or with one "burning" 
to bear arms, or with a "man of war emerging from the chrys- 
alis of peace." * 97 The assumptions upon which Mr. Villard re- 
lies for the relevancy of his question are gratuitous. The 
chapter is a scholarly example, put forth by a scholar, of the art 
of making "much ado about nothing." 

It would be proper to say that the conquest of the Southern 
States was the greatest or principal undertaking in Brown's 
career, and that it was in 1857 that he first planned to attempt 
it. His capture of Pate's horses and mules at Black Jack in 
June; and the days which he spent in stealing cattle, at and 
around Osawatomie, during the last days of August. 1856; and 
his plundering in Missouri and Kansas in 1858, may be called 
meddling with slavery; though grafting upon the anti-slavery 

*°* Villard, 69-70. 
«»■'■ Villard. 56. 
*'■*• Ante, note 281. 
««" Villard, 50. 



404 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 

sentiment of the time, would more accurately describe the re- 
lation, if any, of his operations to slavery. 

There was this difference between Nat Turner and John 
Brown : the negro was a religious fanatic ; he was sincere 
and consistent. Falsehood, deception, greed, selfishness, are 
not attributes of fanaticism, but they are characteristic of 
Brown's life. The sincerity of his "death-bed" professions of 
godliness, and of sympathy for the men in bondage, is discred- 
ited by the actions of a lifetime as conspicuous for its turpitude 
as it was barren of virtues. Neither charitable deed, nor mani- 
festation of a benevolent, or of a patriotic spirit, appears, even 
incidentally, along the lines of his life, to break the monotone of 
selfishness that distinguishes it. In public affairs he took no 
part worthy of consideration. 

Mr. Gill gave up a view of his natural or unassumed per- 
sonality that is consistently discreditable, and Brown's corre- 
spondence is a confirmation of that estimate. It teaches the 
lesson that he administered his deportment to suit the circum- 
stances of the occasion existing at the time ; and that it covered 
the entire range of the various phases of human intercourse; 
from that of a coarse, brutal vulgarity, to the saintliness of his 
latest metamorphosis ; from the use of language so distinctly 
vulgar and obscene, as to be, in the opinion of the writer, un- 
printable, 498 to the crafty assumptions of godliness contained 
in his letter to the innocent Quakeress. 499 

Brown was crafty in the sublimest degree of the art. His 
craftiness was a distinction. It will be difficult to find in our 
literature a more interesting example of the refinements of the 
art than the piece which he set for Mrs. Steams: his "Old 
Brown's Farewell : to the Plymouth Rocks ; Bunker Hill Monu- 
ments; Charter Oaks; and Uncle Toms Cabbins." In the set- 
ting, and in the dramatic execution of the play, he exhibited the 

i9S Mason Report, 220. Testimony of Augustus Wattles; letter of 
April 8, 1857. 

499 Letter to Mrs. E. B., November 1st, ante, note 473. 



"YET SHALL HE LIVE" 405 

perfection of the actor. The paper was not drawn for Mr. 
Parker to read to his congregation. Brown was not "casting 
his pearls before swine." It was for Mrs. Stearns personally 
that the paper was written; it was her heart thru he intended to 
touch, and her generous emotions that he intended to prey up >n. 
How successfully he played the part she has related. "" 

Of Brown, it may be truthfully said that within the limits of 
his resources, he did nothing in a small way, nor did he move 
with a faint heart. With him, there was neither halting nor 
trifling in action. He was consistently an adventurer. His 
theology scorned all creeds. Without capital he was a plunger 
among speculators. The deception which he practiced upon 
the New England Woolen Company netted him a fortune little 
below the average of that period. In the commission business 
he was an acrobat, rather than a merchant ; his operations were 
a series of feats in commercial gymnastics. Chafing because 
of the restrictions of an extreme poverty that kept him "like a 
toad under a harrow." he determined to burst the bands of his 
environment, and there was a massacre in the valley of the Pot- 
tawatomie out of which he rode with a herd of horses. And 
he would have ridden away from Black Jack with Pate's horses 
and mules, if Pate had not deceived him, and led him to believe 
that he held his sons — John and Jason — prisoners, as host- 
ages. A guerrilla leader for six days, he drove two hundred 
and fifty head of cattle into his camp at Osawatomie, and in 
1858, as a Kansas raider, he dwarfed the operations of James 
Montgomery. In the East, as a crafty imposter and grafter, he 
secured $30,000 in cash and plunder, and attempted a coup 
upon the Legislatures of Massachusetts and New York for 
$200,000 more. And then, within one year from the date of 
the outburst of his determination to be freed from poverty, he 
indulged hopes of a successful conquest: hopes of riches and 
of fame. An habitual cruelty in his domestic life, which is more 
500 Ante, note 233. 



406 JOHN BROWN: A CRITIQUE 

than hinted at by his friend and confidant, George R. Gill, 
nerved his hand to execute the ferocious butchery of his neigh- 
bors on the Pottawatomie, and steeled his heart to incite the 
slaves at Harper's Ferry to emulate the example of Southamp- 
ton. His attempt at revolution was not the result of a previous 
conviction and consecration to duty and to the cause of human- 
ity, but of a growth — the indulgence and development of an 
abnormal passion for speculation : the culmination downward 
of his speculative and criminal instincts. Closing a commercial 
sas indulging the reasonable hope that in the new country he 
would find opportunity to improve his condition. In the horses 
owned by the Shermans, and by other well-to-do neighbors, he 
saw, and grasped, the opportunity — a desperate one — to 
make a "coup to restore his fortunes." Out of that plunge in 
robbery and murder came the leader of a gang of horse thieves 
— the chrysalis of the guerrilla captain of Osawatomie. 

Driven out of the Territory by the establishment of order, the 
crafty marauder raided the East as the militant defender of 
Kansas. In the practice of his impositions there, he met and 
established confidential relations with men who plotted against 
the life of the nation ; men who planned how to provoke a revo- 
lution ; how best to "split the Union" ; 50] men who wished "suc- 
cess to every slave insurrection." From this atmosphere, preg- 
nant with the sentiment of disloyalty to the Union, Brown de- 
rived the inspiration which encouraged him to plan to do what 
his mentors had not the courage to undertake. Out of his nego- 
tiations with them came money; munitions of war; Hugh 
Forbes, the revolutionist ; mutual planning for a revolution, and 
a dream of empire. 

John Brown will live in history; but his name will not be 
found among the names of those who have wrought for hu- 
manity and for righteousness ; or among the names of the mar- 

601 Sanborn to Higginson, ante, note 248. 



"YET SHALL HE LIVE" 407 

tyrs and the saints who "washed their robes and made them 
white in the blood of the Lamb." 

"YET SHALL HE LIVE": but it will be as a soldier of 

fortune, an adventurer. He will take his place in history as 
such; and will rank among adventurers as Napoleon ranks 
among marshals; as Captain Kidd among pirates: and as Jon- 
athan Wild among thieves. 



APPENDICES 



APPENDIX I 

CORRESPONDENCE WITH THE LATE I). W. WILDER CON- 
CERNING JOHN BROWN 

r i n w wm Topeka, Kansas, Dec. 18th. 1902. 

General D. W. Wilder, 

Hiawatha, Kansas. 
My Dear General: 

I would like to have you kindly tell me something valuable 
about John Brown. I listened to your tribute to his memory, 
read before the Historical Society on the 2nd inst. It recalled the 
admiration which I entertained for the "Old Hero" throughout the 
many years of my life ; from young manhood up to about f< mr years 
ago ; when I attempted to write a sketch of his life. It was in read- 
ing up to obtain data for this sketch that the idol, which my credu- 
lity, I suppose, or imagination had set up, went utterly to pieces in 
my hands. I read faithfully what his biographers, Sanborn, and 
Redpath, and the other fellows, have written about him. but none 
of them give up any valuable facts. They all seem to be long on 
eulogy. They do overtime on that. The whole performance is 
a continuous eulogium ; but historical facts, upon which to pred- 
icate a story, or upon which his "immortal fame" is supposed to 
rest, are painfully lacking. . . These are some of the things which 
I went up against when I tried in good faith to write about him, 
and they broke me all up, so I had to quit. John Brown, the 
"Hero" and "Martyr." is a creation — Charlestown furnished ;i 
simple text and the genius of his generation did the rest. The 
brilliant minds of this age have exploited him in literary effects, 
in prose, in poetry and oratory. They have placarded him •upon 
the walls of time"; but I am compelled to believe that his fame 
thus acquired, will not survive. The "why" may "repel the phil- 
osophic searcher," but it cannot "defy" the historical searchers. 
History has no enigmas. 



412 APPENDICES 

I will be very glad indeed to have your opinions on this business. 

Very truly yours, 

Hill P. Wilson. 
In this letter the writer asked Mr. Wilder for his opinion upon 
Brown's motives in their relation to several incidents that occurred 
in his life. His reply is as follows : x 

Hiawatha, Kansas, Dec. 20, 1902. 
My Dear Wilson : 

. . . You have stood on various platforms and made many 
political speeches. Did any of them endorse the sentiments you 
now hold ? The elder Booth, a man of genius, once staggered up 
to the footlights and said to the crowded house: "You are all 
drunk," and staggered off. 

You think the people of your county, your state, your country 
and of the civilized world, including its noblest spirits, do not know 
a hero, an emancipator — first of his state, then of his nation. 
Only one Kansan has made a speech that thrilled the world and 
is immortal. You never read it. Only one Kansan lives in poe- 
try, in song, in human hearts, and is the constant theme of the 
historian, the dramatist, the man of letters. You think he was a 
fool. The whole world has pronounced its verdict on John Brown. 
Yours truly, D. W. Wilder. 

To this letter the writer replied: 

, , ^ „ Topeka, Kans., January 3, 1903. 

My Dear General: 

Your letter of the 20th tilt., is received. I told you that I had 
gone the limit of my vocabulary in expressing my admiration of 
John Brown. I read the "speech that thrilled the world." I 
have read the poetry and have sung the songs. I make the point 
that the speeches, the poetry, and the songs are all there is behind 
John Brown. When I asked you about some historical facts, you 
gave me more oratory. It seems to have become a habit. If you 
ever analyze this man's character, you will reverse your estimate 
of him. 

The world sees Brown fighting, heroically, in the engine-house 
at Harper's Ferry, but it does not inquire how he came to be 

1 Original in possession of the author. 



APPENDICES 413 

there. It was his death, and not his life, that gave him renown. 
Usually it is a man's life — his actions, that determine his place 
among men. If it be true that one unimpeachable fact will set 
aside the most plausible opposing theory, then Brown's fame 
will not survive. The facts of his life impeach the popular verdict 

Very truly yours. 

Hill P. Wilson. 
General D. W. Wilder, 

Hiawatha, Kansas. 



APPENDIX II 

RECOLLECTIONS OF THE JOHN BROWN RAID BY THE HON. 

ALEXANDER R. BOTELER, A VIRGINIAN WHO 

WITNESSED THE FIGHT 

Taken from The Century 

On entering- the room where John Brown was, I found him alone, 
lying on the floor on his left side, and with his back turned toward 
me. The right side of his face was smeared with blood from a 
sword cut on his head, causing his grim and grizzled countenance 
to look like that of some aboriginal savage with his war-paint on. 
Approaching him I began the conversation with the inquiry : 

"Captain Brown, are you hurt anywhere except on the head?" 

"Yes, in my side, here," said he, indicating the place with his 
hand. 

I then told him that a surgeon would be in presently to attend 
to his wounds, and expressed the hope that they were not very 
serious. Thereupon he asked me who I was, and on giving him 
my name he muttered as if speaking to himself. 

"Yes, yes — I know you now — member of congress — this 
district." 

I then asked the question : 

"Captain, what brought you here?" 

"To free your slaves," was the reply. 

"How did you expect to accomplish it with the small force you 
brought with you?" 

"T expected help." 

"Where, whence, and from whom. Captain, did you expect it?" 

"Here and from elsewhere," he answered. 

"Did you expect to get assistance from whites .here as well as 
from the blacks?" was my next question. 

"I did," he replied. 



APPENDICES 415 

"Then," said I, "you have been disappointed in not getting it 

from either?" 

"Yes," he muttered, "I have — boon — disappointed." 
Then I asked him who planned his movement on I Carper's Fer- 
ry, to which he replied: "I planned it all myself," and upon my 
remarking that it was a sad affair for him and the country, and 
that I trusted no one would follow his example by undertaking :i 
similar raid, he made no response. I next inquired if he had any 
family besides the sons who accompanied him on hi^ incursion, to 
which he replied by telling me he had a wife and children in the 
State of New York at North Elba, and on my then asking if he 
would like to write to them and let them know how he was, he 
quickly responded : 

''Yes, I would like to send them a letter." 

"Very well," I said, "you doubtless will be permitted to do so. 
But, Captain," I added, "probably you understand that, being in 
the hands of the civil authorities of the State, your letters will have 
to be seen by them before they can be sent." 
"Certainly," he said. 

"Then, with that understanding." continued 1. "There will. 1 
am sure, be no objection to your writing home; and although I 
have no authority in the premises. 1 promise to do what I can to 
have your wishes in that respect complied with." 

"Thank you — thank you. sir," he said repeating his acknowl- 
edgment for the proffered favor and. for the first time, turning 
his head toward me. 

In my desire to hear him distinctly, I had placed myself by his 
side, with one knee resting on the floor; so that, when he turned, it 
brought his face quite close to mine, and I remember well the 
earnest gaze of the gray eye that looked straight into mine. 1 then 
remarked : 

"Captain, we, too. have wives and children. This attempt of 
yours to interfere with our slaves has created great excitement and 
naturallv causes anxiety on account of our familu S. Now, let me 
ask you: Is this failure of yours likely to be followed by similar 
attempts to create disaffection among our servant- and bring upon 
our homes the horrors of a servile war ?" 



416 APPENDICES 

"Time will show," was his significant reply. 

Just then a Catholic priest appeared at the door of the room. 
He had been administering the last consolations of religion to 
Quinn, the marine, who was dying in the adjoining office ; and the 
moment Brown saw him he became violently angry, and plainly 
showed, by the expression of his countenance, how capable he was 
of feeling "hatred, malice, and all uncharitableness." 

"Go out of here — I don't want you about me — go out !" was 
the salutation he gave the priest, who, bowing gravely, immediate- 
ly retired. Whereupon I arose from the floor, and bidding Brown 
good-morning, likewise left him. 

In the entry leading to the room where Brown was, I met Major 
Russell, of the marine corps, who was going to see him, and I 
detailed to him the conversation I had just had. Meeting the 
major subsequently he told me that when he entered the apartment 
Brown was standing up — with his clothes unfastened — exam- 
ining the wound in his side, and that, as soon as he saw him, forth- 
with resumed his former position on the floor ; which incident 
tended to confirm the impression I had already formed, that there 
was a good deal of vitality left in the old man, notwithstanding his 
wounds — a fact more fully developed that evening after I had 
left Harper's Ferry for home, when he had his spirited and his- 
toric talk with Wise, Hunter and Vallandigham. 



APPENDIX III 

THE CONSTITUTION ADOPTED AT CHATHAM, CANADA 

Copy of the Constitution, adopted at Chatham, Canada, May 8, 
1858. Mason Report, p. 48. 

PROVISIONAL CONSTITUTION AND ( JRDINANCE l'< »R 
THE PEOPLE OF THE UNITED STATES 

PREAMBLE 

Whereas, slavery throughout its entire existence in the United 
States, is none other than a most barbarous, unprovoked, and un- 
justifiable war of one portion of its citizens upon another portion, 
the only conditions of which are perpetual imprisonment and hope- 
less servitude or absolute extermination ; in utter disregard of 
those eternal and self-evident truths set forth in our Declaration 
of Independence : Therefore, 

We, citizens of the United States, and the Oppressed People, 
who, by a decision of the Supreme Court are declared to have no 
rights which the White Man is bound to respect; together with all 
other people degraded by the laws thereof. Do, for the time being 
ordain and establish for ourselves, the following PROVISIONAL 
CONSTITUTION and ORDINANCES, the better to protect 
our Persons, Property, Lives and Liberties: and to govern our 

actions : 

ARTICLE I 

QUALIFICATIONS FOR MEMBERSHIP 

All persons of mature age, whether Proscribed, oppressed, and 
enslaved Citizens, or of the Proscribed or oppressed races of the 
United States, who shall agree to sustain and enforce the Pro- 
visional Constitution and Ordinance of this organization, together 
with all minor children of such persons, shall be held to be fully 
entitled to protection under the same. 



418 APPENDICES 

ARTICLE II 

BRANCHES OF GOVERNMENT 

The provisional government of this organization shall consist 
of three branches, viz. : Legislative, Executive, and Judicial. 

ARTICLE III 
LEGISLATIVE 
The legislative branch shall be a Congress or House of Repre- 
sentatives, composed of not less than five, or more than ten mem- 
bers, who shall be elected by all the citizens of mature age and 
of sound mind, connected with this organization ; and who shall 
remain in office for three years, unless sooner removed for mis- 
conduct, inability, or death. A majority of such members shall 
constitute a quorum. 

ARTICLE IV 
EXECUTIVE 
The executive branch of this organization shall consist of a 
President and Vice-President, who shall be chosen by the citizens 
or members of this organization, and each of whom shall hold his 
office for three years, unless sooner removed by death, or for in- 
ability or misconduct. 

ARTICLE V 

JUDICIAL 

The judicial branch of this organization shall consist of one 
Chief-Justice of the Supreme Court, and of four Associate Judges 
of said Court ; each constituting a Circuit Court. They shall each 
be chosen in the same manner as the President, and shall continue 
in office until their places have been filled in the same manner by 
election of the citizens. Said court shall have jurisdiction in all 
civil or criminal causes, arising under this constitution, except 
breaches of the Rules of War. 

ARTICLE VI 

VALIDITY OF ENACTMENTS 

All enactments of the legislative branch shall, to become valid 
during the first three years, have the approbation of the President 
and the Commander-in-Chief of the Army. 



APPENDICES 419 

ARTICLE VI] 

CO M M A NDER- I N -C 1 11 K t 

A Commander-in-Chief of the army shall be chosen by the Pres- 
ident, Vice-President, a majority of the Provisional Congress, and 

of the Supreme Court, and he shall receive his commission from 
the President, signed by the Vice-President, the Chief Justice of 

the Supreme Court, and the Secretary of War: and he shall hold 
his office for three years, unless removed by death, or on proof of 
incapacity of misbehavior. He shall, unless under arrest ( and 
till his place is actually filled as provided by the constitution) 
direct all movements of the army, and advise with any allies. 1 [e 
shall, however, be tried, removed, or punished, on complaint by 
the President, by. at least, three general officers, or a majority of 
the House of Representatives, or of the Supreme Court : which 
House of Representatives (the President presiding); the Vice 
President, and the members of the Supreme Court, shall constitute 
a court-martial, for his trial; with power to remove or punish, as 
the case may require; and to fill his place as above provided. 

ARTICLE VIII 

OFFICERS 

A Treasurer, Secretary of State, Secretary of War. and Secre- 
tary of the Treasury, shall each be chosen for the first three years, 
in the same way and manner as the Commander-in-Chief: subject 
to trial or removal on complaint of the President. Vice-President, 
or Commander in Chief, to the Chief Justice of the Supreme 
Court; or on complaint of the majority of the members of said 
court, or the Provisional Congress. The Supreme Court shall 
have power to try or punish either of those officer-- ; and their 
places shall be filled as before. 

ARTICLE IX 

SECRETARY OF WAR 

The Secretary of W r ar shall be under the immediate directions 
of the Commander in Chief; who may temporarily till his place, 
in case of arrest, or of any inability to serve. 
n 



420 APPENDICES 

ARTICLE X 

CONGRESS OR HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

The House of Representatives shall make ordinances for the 
appointment (by the President or otherwise) of all civil officers 
except those already named ; and shall have power to make all 
laws and ordinances for the general good, not inconsistent with 
this Constitution and these ordinances. 

ARTICLE XI 

APPROPRIATION OF MONEY, ETC. 

The Provisional Congress shall have power to appropriate 
money or other property actually in the hands of the Treasurer, 
to any object calculated to promote the general good, so far as 
may be consistent with the provisions of this Constitution ; and may 
in certain cases, appropriate, for a moderate compensation of 
agents, or persons not members of this organization, for important 
service they are known to have rendered. 

ARTICLE XII 

SPECIAL DUTIES 
It shall be the duty of Congress to provide for the instant re- 
moval of any civil officer or policeman, who becomes habitually 
intoxicated, or who is addicted to other immoral conduct, or to 
any neglect or unfaithfulness in the discharge of his official duties. 
Congress shall also be a standing committee of safety, for the pur- 
pose of obtaining important information ; and shall be in constant 
communication with the Commander-in-Chief; the members of 
which shall each, as also the President and Vice-President, mem- 
bers of the Supreme Court, and Secretary of State, have full 
power to issue warrants returnable as Congress shall ordain 
(naming Witnesses etc) upon their own information, without the 
formality of a complaint. Complaint shall be made immediately 
after arrest, and before trial ; the party arrested to be served with 
a copy at once. 

ARTICLE XIII 

TRIAL OP PRESIDENT AND OTHER OFFICERS 

The President and Vice President may either of them be tried, 
removed, or punished, on complaint made by the Chief Justice of 



APPENDICES 421 

the Supreme Court, by a majority of the House of Representatives, 
which House, together with the Associate Judges of the Supreme 

Court, the whole to be presided over by the Chief Justice in the 
cases of the trial of the Vice President, shall have full power to 
try such officers, to remove, or punish a> the ease may require, and 
to fill any vacancy so occurring-, the same as in the case of the 
Commander-in-Chief. 

ARTICLE XIV 

TRIAL OF MEMBERS OF CONGRESS 

The members of the House of Representatives may, any and all 
of them, be tried, and on conviction, removed or punished on com- 
plaint before the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, made by 
any number of members of said House, exceeding one third, 
which House, with the Vice President and Associate Judges <>f the 
Supreme Court, shall constitute the proper tribunal, with power 
to fill such vacancies. 

ARTICLE XV 

IMPEACHMENT OF JUDGES 

Any member of the Supreme Court, tried, convicted, or pun- 
ished by removal or otherwise, on complaint to the President, who 
shall, in such case, preside; the Vice-President, House of Repre- 
sentatives, and other members of the Supreme Court, constituting 
the proper tribunal (with power to fill vacancies) ; on complaint 
of a majority of said House of Representatives, or of the Su- 
preme Court; a majority of the whole having power to decide. 

ARTICLE XVI 

DUTIES OF PRESIDENT AND SECRETARY OF STATE 

The President, with the Secretary of State, shall immediately 
upon entering on the duties of their office, give special attention 
to secure, from amongst their own people, men of integrity, in- 
telligence, and good business habits and capacity; and above all, 
of first rate moral and religious character and influence, to act as »i 
civil officers of every description and grade, as well as teachers, yr^ 
chaplains, physicians, surgeons, mechanics, agents of every descrip- •) 
tion, clerks and messengers. They shall make special effort to 




422 APPENDICES 

induce at the earliest possible period, persons and families of that 
description, to locate themselves within the limits secured by this 
organization ; and shall, moreover, from time to time, supply the 
names and residence of such persons to the Congress, for their 
special notice and information, as among the most important of 
their duties, and the President is hereby authorized and em- 
powered to afford special aid to such individuals, from such mod- 
erate appropriations as the Congress shall be able and may deem 
it advisable to make for that object. 

The President and Secretary of State, and in case of disagree- 
ment, the Vice-President shall appoint all civil officers, but shall 
not have power to remove any officer. All removals shall be the 
result of a fair trial, whether civil or military. 

ARTICLE XVII 

FURTHER DUTIES 

It shall be the duty of the President and Secretary of State, to 
find out (as soon as possible) the real friends, as well as the en- 
emies of this organization in every part of the country ; to secure 
among them, innkeepers, private postmasters, private mail con- 
tractors, messengers and agents : through whom may be obtained 
correct and regular information, constantly; recruits for the ser- 
vice, places of deposit and sale ; together with needed supplies : 
and it shall be matter of special regard to secure such facilities 
through the Northern States. 

ARTICLE XVIII 

DUTIES OE THE PRESIDENT 

It shall be the duty of the President, as well as the House of 
Representatives, at all times, to inform the Commander-in-Chief 
of any matter that may require his attention, or that may affect 
the public safety. 

ARTICLE XIX 

DUTY OF PRESIDENT — CONTINUED 

It shall be the duty of the President to see that the provisional 
ordinances of this organization, and those made by Congress, are 



APPENDICES 423 

properly and faithfully executed; and he may in cases of great 
urgency call on the Commander-in-Chief of the army, or other 
officers for aid; it being, however, intended that a sufficient civil 
police shall always be in readiness to secure implicit obedience bo 
law. 

ARTICLE XX 

THK VICE-PRESIDENT 

The Vice-President shall be the presiding officer of the Pro- 
visional Congress and in case of tie shall give the casting vote. 

ARTICLE XXI 

VACANCIES 

In case of death, removal, or inability of the President, the Vice- 
President, and next to him, the Chief Justice of the Supreme 
Court, shalr~b"e"~ the President during the remainder of the term: 
and the place of Chief-Justice thus made vacant shall be filled by 
Congress from some of the members of said Court; and places <>f 
the Vice-President and Associate Justice thus made vacant, tilled 
by an election by the united action of the Provisional Congress and 
members of the Supreme Court. All other vacancies, not hereto- 
fore specially provided for, shall, during the first three years, be 
filled by the united action of the President, Vice- President, Su- 
preme Court, and Commander-in-Chief of the Army. 

ARTICLE XXII 

PUNISHMENT OF CRIMES 

The punishment of crimes not capital, except in the case of in- 
subordinate convicts or other prisoners, shall be (so far as may 
be) by hard labor on the public works, roads, etc. 

ARTICLE XXII 1 

ARMY APPOINTMENTS 

It shall be the duty of all commissioned officers of the army 
to name candidates of merit for office or elevation to the Comman- 
der-in-Chief, who. with the Secretary of War. and, in case, of 
disagreement, the President, shall be the appointing power of the 



424 APPENDICES 

army: and all commissions of military officers shall bear the sig- 
natures of the Commander-in-Chief and the Secretary of War. 
And it shall be the special duty of the Secretary of War to keep 
for constant reference of the Commander-in-Chief a full list of 
names of persons nominated for office, or elevation, by officers of 
the army, with the name and rank of the officer nominating, stat- 
ing distinctly but briefly the grounds for such notice or nomina- 
tion. The Commander-in-Chief shall not have power to remove 
or punish any officer or soldier ; but he may order their arrest and 
trial at any time, by court-martial. 

ARTICLE XXIV 

COURT-MARTIALS 

Court martials for Companies, Regiments, Brigades, etc., shall 
be called by the chief officer of each command, on complaint to him 
by any officer, or any five privates, in such command, and shall 
consist of not less than five nor more than nine officers, and pri- 
vates, one-half of whom shall not be lower in rank than the person 
on trial, to be chosen by the three highest officers in the command, 
which officers shall not be a part of such court. The chief officer 
of any command shall, of course be tried by a court-martial of the 
command above his own. All decisions affecting the lives of per- 
sons, or office of persons holding commission, must, before taking 
full effect, have the signature of the Commander-in-Chief, who 
may also, on the recommendation of, at least, one-third of the mem- 
bers of the court martial finding any sentence, grant a reprieve or 
commutation of the same. 

ARTICLE XXV 

SALARIES 

No person connected with this organization shall be entitled to 
any salary, pay, or emoluments, other than a competent support of 
himself and family, unless it be from an equal dividend, made of 
public property, on the establishment of peace, or of special pro- 
vision by treaty; which provision shall be made for all persons 
who may have been in any active civil or military service at any 
time previous to any hostile action for Liberty and Equality. 



APPENDICES 425 

ARTICLE XXVI 

TREATIES OF PEACH 

Before any treaty of peace shall take effect, it shall be signed by 
the President and Vice-President, the Commander-in-Chief, a ma- 
jority of the House of Representatives, a majority of the Supreme 
Court, and a majority of all general officers of the army. 

ARTICLE XXVII 

DUTY OF THE MILITARY 

It shall be the duty of the Commander-in-Chief, and all officers 
and soldiers of the army, to afford special protection when needed, 
to Congress, or any member thereof; to the President, Vice-Presi- 
dent, Treasurer, Secretary of State, Secretary of Treasury and 
Secretary of War; and to afford general protection to all civil 
officers, other persons having right to the same. 

ARTICLE XXVIII 

PROPERTY 

IaH captured or confiscated property, and all property the pro- 
duct of the labor of those belonging to this organization and their 
families, shall be held as the property of the whole, equally, with- 
out distinction; and may be used for the common benefit, or dis- 
posed of for the same object^ and any person, officer or otherwise, 
who shall improperly retain, secrete, use, or needlessly destroy 
such property, or property found, captured, or confiscated, belong- 
ing to the enemy, or shall willfully neglect to render a full and fair 
statement of such property by him so taken or held, shall be 
deemed guilty of a misdemeanor and, on conviction, shall he pun- 
ished accordingly. 

ARTICLE XXIX 

SAFETY OR INTELLIGENCE FUND 

All money, plate, watches or jewelry, captured by honorable 
warfare, found, taken or confiscated, belonging to the enemy, 
shall be held sacred, to constitute a liberal safety or intelligence 
fund- and any person who shall improperly retain, dispose of, 
hide, use, or 'destroy such money or other article above mentioned, 



426 APPENDICES 

contrary to the provisions and spirit of this article, shall be 
deemed guilty of theft, and, on conviction thereof, shall be pun- 
ished accordingly. The Treasurer shall furnish the Commander- 
in-Chief at all times with a full statement of the condition of such 
fund and its nature. 

ARTICLE XXX 

THE COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF AND THE TREASURY 

The Commander-in-Chief shall have power to draw from the 
Treasury the money and other property of the fund provided for 
it in ARTICLE twenty-ninth, but his orders shall be signed also 
by the Secretary of War, who shall keep strict account of the 
same ; subject to examination by any member of Congress, or gen- 
eral officer. 

ARTICLE XXXI 

SURPLUS OF THE SAFETY OR INTELLIGENCE FUND 

It shall be the duty of the Commander-in-Chief to advise the 
President of any surplus of the Safety or Intelligence Fund ; who 
shall have power to draw such surplus (his order being also signed 
by the Secretary of State) to enable him to carry out the pro- 
visions of Article Seventeenth. 

ARTICLE XXXII 

PRISONERS 

No person, after having surrendered himself or herself a pris- 
oner, and who shall properly demean himself or herself as such, 
to any officer or private connected with this organization, shall 
afterward be put to death, or be subject to any corporal punish- 
ment, without first having had the benefit of a fair and impartial 
trial : nor shall any prisoner be treated with any kind of cruelty, 
disrespect, insult, or needless severity : but it shall be the duty of 
all persons, male and female, connected herewith, at all times and 
under all circumstances, to treat all such prisoners with every de- 
gree of respect and kindness the nature of the circumstances will 
admit of ; and to insist on a like course of conduct from all others, 
as in the fear of Almighty God, to whose care and keeping we 
commit our cause. 



APPENDICES 427 

ARTICLE XXXIII 

VOLUNTARIKS 

All persons who may come forward and shall voluntarily de 
liver up their slaves, and have their names registered on the Books 
of the organization, shall, so long - as they continue at peace, be en- 
titled to the fullest protection of person and property, though not 
connected with this organization, and shall be treated as friends, 
and not merely as persons neutral. 

ARTICLE XXXIV 

NEUTRALS 

The persons and property of all non-slaveholders who shall re- 
main absolute neutral, shall be respected so far as the circum- 
stances can allow of it; but they shall not be entitled to any active 
protection. 

ARTICLE XXX V 

NO NEEDLESS WASTE 

The needless waste or destruction of any useful property or 
article, by fire, throwing open of fences, fields, buildings, or need- 
less killing of animals, or injury of either, shall not be tolerated at 
any time or place, but shall be promptly and properly punished. 

ARTICLE XXXVI 

PROPERTY CONFISCATED 

The entire and real property of all persons known to be acting 
either directly or indirectly with or for the enemy, or found in 
arms with them, or found wilfully holding slaves, shall be con- 
fiscated and taken, whenever and wherever it may be found, in 
either free or slave States. 

ARTICLE XXXVII 

DESERTION 

Persons convicted, on impartial trial, of desertion to the enemy 
after becoming members, acting as spies, or of treacherous sur- 
render of property, arms, ammunition, provisions, or BUpplies oi 



428 APPENDICES 

any kind, roads, bridges, persons or fortifications shall be put to 
death and their entire property confiscated. 

ARTICLE XXXVIII 

VIOLATION OF PAROLE OF HONOR 

Persons proven to be guilty of taking up arms after having 
been set at liberty on parole of honor, or, after the same, to have 
taken an active part with or for the enemy, direct or indirect, shall 
be put to death and their entire property confiscated. 

ARTICLE XXXIX 

ALL MUST LABOR 

All persons connected in any way with this organization, and 
who may be entitled to full protection under it, shall be held as 
under obligation to labor in some way for the general good, and 
any persons refusing, or neglecting so to do, shall on conviction 
receive a suitable and appropriate punishment. 

ARTICLE XL 

IRREGULARITIES 

Profane Swearing, filthy conversation, indecent behavior, or in- 
decent exposure of person, or intoxication, or quarreling, shall not 
be allowed or tolerated, neither unlawful intercourse of the sexes. 

ARTICLE XLI 

CRIMES 

Persons convicted of the forcible violation of any female pris- 
oner shall be put to death. 

ARTICLE XLI I 

THE MARRIAGE RELATION — SCHOOLS — THE SABBATH 

The marriage relation shall be at all times respected, and the 
families kept together as far as possible, and broken families en- 
couraged to re-unite, and intelligence offices established for that 
purpose, schools and churches established, as soon as may be, for 
the purpose of religious and other instructions ; and the first day 
of the week regarded as a day of rest and appropriated to moral 



APPENDICES 429 

and religious instruction and improvement ; relief to the Buffering, 
instruction of the young and ignorant, and the encouragement of 
personal cleanliness; nor shall any person be required on that day 
to perform ordinary manual lahor, unless in extremely urgent 

cases. 

ARTICLE XL111 

CARRY ARMS OPEXLY 

All persons known to he of good character, and of sound mind 
and suitable age, who are connected with this organization, whether 
male or female, shall be encouraged to carry arms openly ; 

ARTICLE XLIV 

NO PERSON TO CARRY CONCEALED WEAPONS 

No person within the limits of the conquered territory, except 

regularly appointed policemen, express officers of the army, mail 
carriers, or other fully accredited messengers of the Congress, 
President, Vice-President, members of the Supreme Court, <>r com- 
missioned officers of the army — and those only under peculiar 
circumstances — shall be allowed, at any time, to carry concealed 
weapons; and any person not specially authorized so to do, who 
shall be found so doing, shall be deemed a suspicious person, and 
may be at once arrested by any officer, soldier, or citizen, without 
the formality of a complaint or warrant, and may at once be suh- 
ject to thorough search, and shall have his or her case thoroughly 
investigated; and be dealt with as circumstances, or proof, may 
require. 

ARTICLE XLV 

PERSONS TO BE SEIZED 

Persons within the limits of the territory holden by this organ- 
ization, not connected with this organization, having arms at all. 
concealed or otherwise, shall be seized at once, or taken in charge 
of by some vigilant officer ; and their case thoroughly investigated : 
and it shall be the duty of all citizens and soldiers, as well as 
officers, to arrest such parties as arc- named in this and the pre- 
ceding Section or Article, without formality of complaint or war- 
rant: and they shall be placed in charge of proper officer for ex- 
amination or for safe keeping. 



430 APPENDICES 

ARTICLE XLVI 

THESE ARTICLES NOT FOR THE OVERTHROW OF GOVERNMENT 

The foregoing articles shall not be construed so as in any way 
to encourage the overthrow of any State Government of the 
United States : and look to no dissolution of the Union, but simply 
to Amendment and Repeal. And our Flag shall be the same as 
our Fathers fought under in the Revolution. 

ARTICLE XLVII 

NO PLURALITY OF OFFICES 

No two offices specially provided for, by this Instrument, shall 
be filled by the same person at the same time. 

ARTICLE XVLIII 

OATH 

Every Officer, civil or military, connected with this organiza- 
tion, shall, before entering upon the duties of his office, make sol- 
emn oath or affirmation, to abide by and support this Provisional 
Constitution and these Ordinances. Also, every Citizen and Sol- 
dier, before being fully recognized as such, shall do the same. 



APPENDIX IV 

JOHN BROWN'S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 

Written to Henry L. Stearns, son of George L. Stearns, and bear- 
ing date Red Rock, Iowa, July ~. /(V/57.' 

John was born May 9th, 1800, at Torrington, Litchfield County. 
Connnecticut ; of poor but resectable parents : a descendant on tin- 
side of his father of one of the company of the Mayflower who 
landed at Plymouth 1620. His mother was descended from a man 
who came at an early period to New England from Amsterdam, 
in Holland. Both his Father's & Mother's Fathers served in the 
war of the revolution : His Father's Father died in a barn at 
New York while in the service, in 1776. 

I cannot tell you of anything in the first Four years of John's 
life worth mentioning save that at that early age he was tempted 
by Three large Brass Pins belonging to a girl who lived in the 
family & stole them. In this he was detected by his Mother ; & 
after having a full day to think of the wrong: received from her 
a thorough whipping. When he was Five years old his father 
moved to Ohio; then a wilderness filled with wild beasts, & In- 
dians. During the long journey which was performed in part or 
mostly with an ox team; he was called on by turns to assist a hoy 
Five years older (who had been adopted by his Father & Mother 1 
& learned to think he could accomplish smart things in driving the 
cows, and riding the horses. Some times he met with Rattle 
Snakes which were very large ; & which some of the company gen- 
erally managed to kill. After getting to < >hio in 1805 he was for 
some time rather afraid of the Indians. & of their Rifles; hut this 
soon wore off; & he used to hang about them quite as much ai 
was consistent with good manners: & learned a trifle of their talk. 

1 Ante p. 165. 



432 APPENDICES 

His Father learned to dress Deer Skins, & at 6 years old John was 
installed a young Buck Skin — He was perhaps rather observing 
as he ever after remembered the entire process of Deer Skin 
dressing ; so that he could at any time dress his own leather such 
as Squirl, Raccoon, Cat, Wolf, or Dog Skin; & also learned to 
make Whip Lashes : which brought him some change at times ; 
& was of considerable service in many ways. At Six years old 
John began to be quite a rambler in the wild new country finding 
birds & Squirels, and sometimes a wild Turkey's nest. But about 
this period he was placed in the school of adversity: which my 
young friend was a most necessary part of his early training. 
You may laugh when you come to read about it; but these were 
sore trials to John : whose earthly treasures were very few & small. 
These were the beginnings of a severe but much needed course of 
discipline which he afterwards was to pass through ; & which it is 
to be hoped has learned him before this time that the Heavenly 
Father sees it best to take all the little things out of his hand which 
he has ever placed in them. When John was in his Sixth year a 
poor Indian boy gave him a Yellow Marble the first he had ever 
seen. This he thought a great deal of ; & kept it a good while ; 
but at last he lost it beyond recovery. It took years to heal the 
tvound; & I think he cried at times about it. About Five months 
after this he caught a young Squirrel tearing off his tail in doing 
it; & getting severely bitten at the same time himself. He how- 
ever held to the little bob tail Squirrel ; & finally got him perfectly 
tamed, so that he almost idolized his pet. This too he lost; by 
wandering away ; or by getting killed : & for a year or Two John 
was ;';/ mourning; and looking at all the Squirrels he could see ,o 
try and discover Bobtail if possible, I must not neglect to tell you 
of a very bad & foolish habbit to which John was somewhat ad- 
dicted. I mean telling lies: generally to screen himself from 
blame ; or from punishment. He could not well endure to be re- 
proached; & I now think had he been oftener encouraged to be 
entirely frank; by making frankness a kind of atonement for some 
of his faults ; he would not have been so often guilty of this fault ; 
nor have been obliged to struggle so long in after life with so mean 
a habit. 



APPENDIC1.S 433 

John was never quarrelsome; but was excessively fond of tlu- 
hardest & roughest kind of plays; & could never get enough [of] 
them. Indeed when for a short time he was sometimes sent to 

School the opportunity it afforded to wrestle & Snow ball ft run 
& jump & knock off old seedy wool hats; offered t<> him almost 
the only compensation for the confinement & restraints of school. 
I need not tell you that with such a feeling & but little chance of 
going to school at all: he did not become much of a schollar. 1 le 
would always choose' to stay at home & work hard rather than he 
sent to school; & during the warm season might generally he seen 
barefooted & bareheaded : with Buck skin Breeches suspended 
often with one leather strap over his shoulder hut sometimes with 
Two. To be sent off through the wilderness alone to very con- 
siderable distances was particularly his delight; & in this he was 
often indulged so that by the time he was Twelve years old he 
was sent off more than a Hundred Miles with companies of cattle; 
& he would have thought his character much injured had he been 
obliged to be helped in any such job. This was a boyish kind of 
feeling but characteristic however. 

At Eight years old John was left a Motherless boy which loss 
was complete & permanent, for notwithstanding his Father again 
married to a sensible, inteligent, & on many accounts a very 
estimable woman: yet he never adopted her in feeling: but con- 
tinued to pine after his own Mother for years. This opperatcd 
very unfavorably uppon him: as he was both naturally fond of 
females; & withall extremely diffident; & deprived him of a suit- 
able link between the different sexes; the want of which might 
u .der some circumstances have proved his ruin. 

When the war broke out with EngAind. his Father soon com- 
menced furnishing the troops with beef cattle, the collecting ft 
driving of which afforded him some opportunity for the chase 
(on foot) of wild steers & other cattle through the woods. During 
this war he had some chance to form his own boyish judgement 
of men & measures: & to become somewhat familiarly acquainted 
with some who have figured before the country since that time. 
The effect of what he saw during the war was to so far disgust 
him with military affairs that he would neither train, or drill; but 



434 APPENDICES 

paid fines ; and got along like a Quaker untill his age had finally 
cleared him of Military duty. 

During the war with England a circumstance occurred that in 
the end made him a most determined Abolitionist : & led him to de- 
clare, or Swear: Eternal war with Slavery. He was staying for 
a short time with a very gentlemanly landlord once a United States 
Marshal who held a slave boy near his own age very active, in- 
telligent and good feeling; & to whom John was under consider- 
able obligation for numerous little acts of kindness. The master 
made a great pet of John : brought him to table with his first com- 
pany ; & friends ; called their attention to every little smart thing 
he said or did: & to the fact of his being more than a hundred 
miles from home with a company of cattle alone ; while the negro 
boy (who was fully if not more than his equal) was badly clothed, 
poorly fed; & lodged in cold weather; & beaten before his eyes 
with Iron Shovels or any other thing that came first to hand. This 
brought John to reflect on the wretched ; hopeless condition, of 
Fatherless & Motherless slave children : for such children have 
neither Father nor Mothers to protect, & provide for them. He 
would sometimes raise the question is God their Father? 

At the age of Ten years an old friend induced him to read a little 
history ; & offered him the free use of a good library ; by which 
he acquired some taste for reading: which formed the principle 
part of his early education : & diverted him in a great measure 
from bad company, & conversation of old & inteligent persons. 
He never attempted to dance in his life ; nor did he ever learn to 
know one of a pack of cards from another. He learned nothing 
of Grammar ; nor did he get at school so much knowledge of com- 
mon Arithmetic as the Four ground rides. This will give you 
some idea of the first Fifteen years of his life ; during which time 
he became very strong and large of his age and ambitious to per- 
form the full labour of a man ; at almost any kind of hard work. 
By reading the lives of great, wise & good men their sayings, and 
writings ; he grew to a dislike of vain & frivolous conversation & 
persons; & was often greatly obliged by the kind manner in which 
older & more intelligent persons treated him at their houses : & in 
conversation ; which was a great relief on account of his extreme 
bashfulness. 



APPENDICES 435 

He very early in life became ambitious to excel! in doing any- 
thing he undertook to perform. This kind of feeling I would 

recomend to all persons both male & female: as it will certainly 
tend to secure admission to the company of the more intelligent 

& better portion of every community. By all means endeavor to 
excell in some laudable pursuit. 

I had like to forgotten to tell you of one of John's misfortunes 
which set rather hard on him while a young boy. I le had by some 
means perhaps by gift of his father become the owner of a little 
Ewe Lamb which did finely till it was about Two Thirds grown ; 
and then sickened & died. This brought another protracted 
mourning season: not that he felt the pecuniary loss so much: for 
that was never his disposition; but so strong and earnest were his 
attachments. 

John had been taught from earliest childhood to tear (i<«l and 
keep his commandments; & though quite skeptical he had always 
by turns felt much serious doubt as to his future well being & about 
this time became to some extent a convert to Christianity & ever 
after a firm believer in the divine authenticity of the Bible. With 
this book he became very familiar, & possessed a most unusual 
memory of its entire contents. 

Now some of the things I have been telling of; were just such 
as I would recomend to you: & I wd like to know that you had 
selected these out; & adopted them as part of your own plan of 
life ; & I wish you to have some definite plan. Many seem to have 
none; & others never stick to any that they do form. This was 
not the case with John. lie followed up with tenacity whatever 
he set about so long as it answered his general purpose: & hence 
he rarely failed in some good decree to effect the things he under- 
took. This was so much the case that he habitually expected to 
succeed in his undertakings. With this feeling should be coupled ; 
the consciousness that our plans are right in themselves. 

During the period I have named John had acquired a kind of 
ownership to certain animals of some little value but as he had 
come to understand that the title of minor's might he a little imper- 
fect: he had recource to various means in order to secure a more 
independent; & perfect right of property. One of those means 
was to exchange with his Father for something of far less value 



436 APPENDICES 

Another was trading with other persons for something his Father 
had never owned. Older persons have some times found difficulty 
with titles. 

From fifteen to Twenty years old, he spent most of his time 
working at the Tanner & Currier's trade keeping Bachelors hall ; 
& he was acting as Cook ; & for most of the time as foreman of the 
establishment under his father. During this period he found much 
trouble with some of the bad habits I have mentioned & with some 
that I have not told you of: his conscience urging him forward 
with great power in this matter : but his close attention to business ; 
& success in his management ; together with the way he got along 
with a company of men ; & boys ; made him quite a favorite with the 
serious & more intelligent portion of older persons. This was so 
much the case ; & secured for him so many little notices from those 
he esteemed ; that his vanity was very much fed by it ; & he came 
forward to manhood quite full of self-conceit; & self-confidence; 
notwithstanding his extreme bashfulness. A younger brother used 
sometimes to remind him of this : and to repeat to him this expres- 
sion which you may somewhere find, 'A King against whome there 
is no rising up.' The habit so early formed of being obeyed ren- 
dered him in after life too much disposed to speak in an imperious 
& dictating way. From Fifteen years & upward he felt a good 
deal of anxiety to learn ; but could only read and study a little ; 
both for want of time ; & on account of inflammation of the eyes. 
He however managed by the help of books to make himself toler- 
ably well acquainted with common arithmetic ; & Surveying ; which 
he practiced more or less after he was Twenty years old. 

At a little past Twenty years led by his own inclination & 
prompted also by his Father, he married a remarkably plain ; but 
neat industrious & economical girl ; of excellent character ; earnest 
piety ; & good practical common sense ; about one year younger 
than himself. This woman, by her mild, frank, & more than all 
else : by her very consistent conduct ; acquired & ever while she 
lived maintained a most powerful ; & good influence over him. 
Her plain but kind admonitions generally had the right effect; 
without arousing his hauty obstinate temper. John began early 
in life to discover a great liking to fine Cattle, Horses, Sheep, & 



APPENDICES 437 

Swine; & as soon as circumstances would enable him he began to 
be a practical Shepherd: it being a calling for which in early lift- 
he had a kind of enthusiastic longing: with the idea that as a DUfl 
iness it bid fair to afford him the means of carrying out his greatest 
or principle object. I have now given you a kind of general idea 
of the early life of this boy ; & if I believed it would be worth the 
trouble ; or afford much interest to any good feeling person : 1 
might be tempted to tell you something of his course in after life; 
or manhood. I do not say that I will do it. 

You will discover that in using up my half sheets to save paper; 
I have written Two pages, so that one does not follow the other as 
it should. I have no time to write it over; & but for unavoidable 
hindrances in traveling I can hardly say when 1 should have writ- 
ten what I have. With an honest desire for your best good, I 
subscribe myself, Your Friend, 

T. Crown 

P. S. I had like to have forgotten to acknowledge your contri- 
bution in aid of the cause in which I serve. God Allmighty bless 
you ; my son. J. B. 



INDEX 



Abbott, Maj. J. B., 143, 175, 219, -'74, 279 
Adair, Rev. S. L., 77, 108, 146, 152, 221, 

234, 264, 273 
Adams, Mrs. Anne Brown, quoted, S2, 

290, 291, 292; 293 
Adams, Henry, History of I'. >., 35.* 
Alcott, Amos B., 284, 396 
Alburtis, Capt. E. G., 302. 306 
Alderman, Amos, 160 
Allstadt, John H., 298. 300 
Anderson, Capt. Geo. T., U. S. Army, 260 
Anderson, Jeremiah Goldsmith, Capt. Prov. 

Army, 295 ; killed at Harper's Ferry, 

312; quoted, 333, 387; 262, 269. 284, 

285, 348 
Anderson, Osborne P., colored, M. C. 

250; private Prov. Army, 295; escaped 

from H. F., 305 ; 298 
Andrew, Hon. John A., of Boston, quoted, 

397; 369 
Army of Liberation, 343 
Amy, Wm, F., quoted, 43, 82, 83; 188 
Artillery Corps U. S. Army, 392 
Astor House, N. Y., 187 
Atchison, David R., U. S. Senator, Ma- 
jor General, 51, 52, 55, 65, 66, 69. 163. 

174, 176 
Atlantic Monthly, 16, 17, 359, 360 
August, Co\. T. P., commands B.'s escort, 

394 
Austin Freeman, 160 
Avery, Dr., 158 
Avis, Capt. John, B.'s jailor. 302. 304. 382, 

394 

"B. E.," Mrs., letter to B., 389; 4i)t 

Bacon, Cook & Co., 214 

Baltimore American, quoted, 320 

Baltimore Greys, 321 

Ball, A. M., Master Machinist :it II. I'.. 

prisoner, 306 
Bank of Wooster, 39 
Barber, Thomas W.. murdered, 69, 88 
Barbour. Alfred \\\, 301 
Barnes, Wm., letters from B.. 211, 190 
Barrow. Mr., killed Turner's Mi 

362 



Baylor, Col. Robt. \\\. 307, 308. 309 
Beckham, Fontaine, killed at II I 
312 

Bell, James M.. colored, 248 

Belshazzar, .'jo 

Benjamin, Jacob, at Pottawatomie, 110; 

135, 159, 170, 172. 182 
Bernard, .1. M.. store robbed by B., 137 
Bickerton, Capt. Thomas \V\, 155, 158. 173 
Biggs, Dr., 317 
Bishop, Adam, 262 
Blair, Charles, makes 1,000 speai 

223 JJ4 
Blair, Montgomery, 370 
Blake. Maj. George A. II.. I'. S. Army, 

237 
Black Jack, battle of, 110. 135. 141. 144. 

149, 157, 223, 403, 405 
Black Warrior, 60 
Blakesley, Levi, 44, 46 
Blunt, John, 114 
Blood, James, 156 

Boerly, Thomas, kill., I .-,t ll. p., 302; 312 
Bolivar 1 Light-, .int. 303, 304, 328. 339 
Bondi, August, with Brown in Kansas. 

136, 159, 160, 168, 170. 171, 172. 182 
Booth, Fdwin, 412 
Border Ruffians. 81, 197, 199 
Boeder, Hon. Alexander R., B. • 

verely wounded at II. I-'.. 414; !S7 
Bolts. Capt., 302. 304 
Bolts. l.awson, 366, 36'>, 371, 372 
ii. W. B., Lieut, 143. 277 
Paul R., 91, 211 
Brown. Anne, daughter of '!• (set Nil 

ams), 286 
Brown. Dianthe (Lusk), B 
Brown, Frederick. BOO of P... killed at 

Osawatomie, 170; 72. 136, 161, '"5. 16<>. 

171. 182 
Brown. Frederick, B.'s Bxo., ir 
Brown, G. W.. editor, 147. 211, 276 
Brown. Jason, son of B., 45. 72, 116. 125. 

144, 146, 159, 170. [82, 207, 405 
Brown, John (the name ap; ■ 

qucntly that a complete index would rt 
suit in an epitome of the book; there 



440 



INDEX 



fore, only pages containing the more 
important incidents are herein referred 
to), character not prejudged, 9; his 
principal biographers, IS; picturesque 
figure an historical myth, 26; birth, not 
a Mayflower descendant, 27; successful 
as a tanner, 28; contractor, speculates 
in town-sites and farm lands, failure, 
fraudulent practices, 29; in jail at Ak- 
ron, O., 30; sportsman, breeds race 
horses, obtains money under false pre- 
tense, 31; letter concerning, 32; pro- 
ceedings in bankruptcy, letters concern- 
ing, 33, 34; negotiates for 1,000 acres 
of land in Va., 35, 36; shepherd in O., 
36; Perkins & Brown Wool Merchants, 
Springfield, Mass., business methods 
lax, complaints, 37; ships wool to Lon- 
don, Eng., heavy losses, in liquidation, 
sued for large sums, wine making for 
commercial purposes, 38; obtains land 
at North Elba, N. Y., extensive litiga- 
tion, bad record, 39; penniless, thoughts 
of Kansas, 40; religious belief prob- 
lematical, 41, skeptical? 42; indifferent 
concerning the Sabbath, a non-resistant, 
43; summary of anti-slavery activities 
given, 44, 52; intended to become a 
southern planter, 52, letter concerning, 
did he intend to own slaves? 53; a 
dilemma for his biographers, 54; to 
Kansas, collects money at Syracuse, N. 
Y., Akron and Cleveland, O., 75, 76; at 
Osawatomie, in distress, 76; at Free 
State election Oct. 9, 78; not bellicose, 
79; as he impressed Mr. Redpath, 80; 
as he impressed Mr. Villard, 80, 81 ; as 
he impressed his son Salmon, 81; "his 
object in going to Kansas," 82; intend- 
ed to settle, his claim "jumped," 83; 
Captain of the Liberty Guards, 86; 
Shannon Treaty satisfactory, 89; myth- 
ical speech, 90; not heard by Redpath, 
92; first and last appearance at a public 
meeting, 93; chairman district conven- 
tion, 94; disbands Liberty Guards and 
plans to leave neighborhood, extreme 
poverty, 94; an ominous letter, desires 
recrudescence of pro-slavery aggressions, 
97, 98; robberty and murder, 99, 114; 
exchanges stolen horses, 109; self, un- 
married sons and Henry Thompson plan 
robbery and murder, 99; to go to Louis- 
iana, 111; his motives, 121; secrecy a 
characteristic, 124; grinding of sabers a 



myth, 125; motives not altruistic, 129; 
personality, 130; not a "misplaced cru- 
sader," 131; motives selfish, 135; mid- 
night flight, 136; robbery, 137; his se- 
cret camp, 139; encouraged by Red- 
path, sought for by Capt. Pate, joins 
forces with Capt. Shore, 140; captures 
Pate at Black Jack, bands dispersed by 
Col. Sumner, 141 ; John E. Cook a 
guest, 144; original company disbanded, 
146; whereabouts unknown during fifty 
days, 147; stealing horses, 149, 150; 
profited by his operations, 151; forced 
to leave Kansas, 152, 153; returns from 
Nebraska, 154; not to fight, 155, 156; at 
Lawrence, 158; to engage in robbery on 
a large scale, 159; captain of industry, 
160; Osawatomie a cattle raid, 161; re- 
fused to join Lane for the defense of 
Lawrence, 162; his "report" of Osa- 
watomie, 165, 167, 168; band not a mil- 
itary company, 169; in hiding, 170; end 
of get-rich-quick adventure, 171; aban- 
doned son's body, 172; the Loki of 
Osawatomie, 173; well received at 
Lawrence, 174; declined command of a 
company, 171; left Lawrence to its fate, 
176; secures congratulatory letters from 
Gov. Robinson by dissimulation, 177, 
178; leaves Kansas to work the East 
for large sums of money, files claim 
for losses, 181, 184; stores arms at Ta- 
bor, 184; en route east collects money, 
185; meets Mr. Sanborn and unfolds 
scheme to raise $30,000, cash, 185; in 
"green pastures," 186; discredits Free 
State leaders, 187; asks National Com. 
for $5,000 cash, speech, 188; disap- 
pointment, 190; asks Mass. Legislature 
for $100,000, speech, 191, 195; would 
have New York appropriate $100,000 
for him, 196, 197; eulogized, 198, 199; 
advertises for contributions, 200', 201; 
contributions, value $30,000; works 
friends for $1,000, 202, 203; offers 
Kansas leadership to Gov. Reeder, 204; 
shamming, 205, 206; contempt for the 
gullible, 207; works Mrs. Stearns, 207, 
210; suggestive name for his make-be- 
lieve troopers, 211; autobiography writ- 
ten for a special purpose, 212; destina- 
tion conditional, 214; report to Stearns, 
215; failure of pretensions, 216; vocab- 
ulary intact, 217; hopes for "disturb- 
ance" nourished by Lane, 219; brig- 



INDEX 



441 



adier-general, 220; in Kansas but not 
to assist Lane, 221; draft for $7,000, 
cancelled, to return East, 222; orders 
1,000 spears, 223; meets Hugh Forbes, 
224; plans conquest of Southern States, 
225, 226; a disunionist, 227; plans to 
seduce soldiery of Union, Duty of the 
Soldier, 228; important use for spears, 
230; a law unto himself, 231; wants 
money with no questions asked, 233; 
stranded at Tabor, war college at Ash- 
tabula, O., 234; matriculates tyros in 
Kansas, 236; opens war college at 
Springdale, Iowa, 238; drops Forbes 
from pay-roll, 239; war council at Ger- 
rit Smith's home, 244; a war commit- 
tee, 245; not the "Lord's champion," 
247; constitutional convention, 248; 
adopts constitution for provisional gov- 
ernment, commander-in-chief of Pro- 
visional Army, 249; collapse of ex- 
chequer, 253; menace to rear of com- 
munications, 254; gets control of or- 
dinance stores, 255; campaign post- 
poned, 258; in 'Kansas, alias Shubel 
Morgan, orders a "Doz. Whistles," 259; 
roll of make-believe company, his real 
men arrive, 262; worked Territory in 
pairs, 263 ; suffered from exposure, en- 
couraged horse stealing, 265; drafted 
Sugar Mound Treaty, 267; plans com- 
plete for Missouri raid except as to date 
of execution, 268; the raid, 269, 272; 
sends slaves taken to Osawatomie, 273; 
no published accounting or distribution 
of stolen property, recruited finances 
near Lawrence, 274; conduct complained 
of by Moneka clergyman, 276; details 
Stevens and Tidd to "replevin" pair of 
horses, 278; successful trip with slaves 
from Kansas to Canada, 278, 282; "Bat- 
tle of the Spurs," 279; arrest not de- 
sired by Dept. of Justice, 282; never 
killed anybody, 284; revolution financed, 
285; Hd. Qrs. near Harper's Ferry', 
286; panic on bourse, 287; army mo- 
bilized, 289; muster roll, 294; forward 
movement, 296; occupies H. F., 297; 
declaration of intentions, 298; armed 
with sword of Frederick and Washing- 
ton, 299; stops train B. & O. Ry., 300; 
proclamation, this is the last train that 
shall pass, 301; the struggle, 302, 312; 
negroes fail to do their part. 303; re- 
fuses to surrender, 309; his position 



carried by assault, 310; w tunded while 
bravely fighting, 311, 387; casin 
312; interviews, 312, 320; military 
stores on hand, lodged in jail, 321 ; 

found S.inl li'luiiiit. }-(>; his in 

telligence discredited by biograpl 
assumptions of not justified, 328; DOl 
trifling nor baiting death for trifling 
purpose, 329; intended I" arm 
and defend position, 330; expected "ne 
groes to rise and swell force to irn- 
sistible proportions," 332; plans ap- 
proved unanimously, 333, 350; distrib- 
uted 500 spears among negroes, 333; 
did not intend to retreat to fastness, 
believed he would write bloodiest chap- 
ter in history, 334; intended to equip 
an army at II. F. and invade South, 
disposition of his forces at H. F. con- 
sistent with theory of insurrection of 
slaves, 336; defied no canons, w 
executing a raid, campaign serious, he- 
roic and desperate, 337; dispositions at 
H. F. not violations of military prin- 
ciples, 338; to effect conquest of South 
ern States and establish provisional gov- 
ernment, believed slaves would assas- 
sinate masters and families and declare 
freedom, 341; hedged against ti 
342; believed insurrection in progress, 
blow to be most crushing he could de- 
liver, 343; would shake slave system 
to foundation, assassination means to 
end, 344; would improve upon Turner's 
methods, 345; seizure of EL F., strat- 
agem, 347; colored military organiza- 
tions to support, 348; project fon 
owed by Anderson, 350; General Or 
ders No. 1, 351; collapse of scheme co- 
incident with failure of assassinations. 
355; if he and captains had led as 
Turner led, weak link in chain of fore- 
cast, 356; overconfident of succcs- 
of state wrecked upon charted rock, 
vain to underestimate man or conspir- 
acy, not a pioneer in the insurrection 
business, 357; placed upon trial, un 
seemly haste, 365; jurisdiction of Fed- 
eral courts not seriously considered — 
after "higher and wickeder game," 365; 
defiant speech, 366; trial a formality, 
367; rejects plea of insanity. 36! 
rections to counsel. 371; denounces fall 
counsel, 372; verdict guilty — received 
in respectful silence. 374; speech to the 



442 



INDEX 



Court — first paragraph discreditable, 
375; sentence pronounced, 377; retracts 
statements made in speech to Court — 
letter to Andrew Hunter concerning, 
379; speech of Oct. 25th characteristic 
of courage — that of Nov. 2nd, of 
craftiness, as brave as crafty, 380; dis- 
courages attempts at rescue — had had 
surfeit of tragedies, 383 ; prevarication 
and craftiness characteristic of prison 
correspondence, 387-390; statement, 
391; military pageant — Soldier of the 
Cross, 394; fame due to things done to 
him, and to things said about him — ex- 
amples, 395, 399; honored by Kansas, 
399, 400; martyrdom a fiction, 400, 401; 
assault upon slavery means to end, first 
contemplated in 1857, grafting upon anti- 
slavery sentiment, 1855, 1859, 402, 403; 
rapacity distinguishing characteristic — 
deportment, coarse, brutal, vulgar, or 
saintly as suited purposes, 404; deceived 
by Pate, 405; commercial and political 
plunger, 405, 406; will live in history as 
an adventurer, 407; ref. 16, 17, 18, 19, 
20, 21, 22, 23, 24; letters to Mad. F. P.., 
389; Col. Higginson, 381; Dr. Hum- 
phrey, 388; Andrew Hunter, 379; Rev. 
Theo. Parker, 229; 234; Mr. Sanborn, 
218, 238, 246, 268; Mr. Stearns, 215; 
Mrs. Stearns, 390; to wife et al, 77, 79, 
84, 85, 86, 89, 95, 97, 107, 141, 165, 
26S. 269, 382, 385, 38S 

Brown, John Jr., letters, 73; Capt. Pot- 
tawatomie Rifles, 98, 101; statement to 
Sanborn. 108; knew about B.'s plans, 
109; dismissed from Pottawatomie 
Rifles. 125; quits Kansas, 179; 20, 30, 
44. 45. 72, 94, 136, 144, 146, 182, 207, 
243, 248, 323, 384. 405 

Brown, Mary Ann (Day), B.'s second 
wife, 28; 381, 390, 392, 393 

Brown, Oliver, stole horses in Nebraska, 
150; Capt. Prov. Army, 295; killed at 
H. F., 312; copy of his commission, 
352; 76, 102, 136, 149, 183, 295. 337 

Brown, Mrs. Oliver, 286 

Brown, Owen, B.'s father, 28 

Brown, Owen, escaped from Pottawat- 
omie on "fast Kentucky horse," 109; a 
"vile murderer," 127; treasurer, Prov. 
Gov., 250; Capt. Prov Army, 295; es- 
caped from H. F., 312; 30, 72, 136, 146, 
140, 182, 237, 262, 296, 302, 305, 336 



Brown, Peter, Windsor, Conn., B.'s an- 
cestor, 27 
Brown, Reece, P., murdered, 69 
Brown, Salmon, letter not warlike, 81; 

father intended to kill seven men, 111; 

letter, 119; wounded, 143; 21, 72, 102, 

136, 149, 151, 182, 190, 265; 349 
Brown, Sarah, daughter of B., quoted, 169 
Brown, S. B., 159 

Brown, Terrance, prisoner at H. F., 303 
Brown, Watson, son of B. ; Capt. Prov. 

Army, 295; killed at H. F., 312; 85, 

263, 289, 296, 303, 304, 336 
Browns, The, not fighting for freedom, 

153 
Browne, Peter, of the "Mayflower," not 

B.'s ancestor, 27; 192 
Brua, Joseph A., prisoner at H. F., 304, 

306 
Buchanan, Hon. James. President, 60, 

279, 307 
"Buckskin," 158, 159 

Buford, Maj. Jefferson, quoted, 155; 106 
Burgess, John W., Middle Period, quoted, 

66; 56 
Byrne, Terence, 306, prisoner at H. F. 

Cabot, Dr. Samuel, 186 
Cadet Corps, Va. Mil. Institute, 392 
Calhoun, Hon. John C, 43, 56, 57 
Callender, W. H. D., Cashier, 201 
Campbell, James W., Sheriff, 393, 394 
Carpenter, A. O., at Black Jack, 136; 137, 

146 
Carruth, James H., quoted, 127 
Cass, Hon. Lewis, 58 
Castile, A., 114 
Century Magazine, 312 
Chambers, Geo. W., 304 
Chadwick, Rear Admiral F. F.., 255, 334 
Chamberlain, Amos P., 29, 30 
Charleston Mercury, 70 
Chicago Tribune, 46 
Chilton, Samuel, counsel for B.. 369; 372, 

373, 374, 375 
Clark, James Freeman, 128 
Clay, Henry, 59 
Cline, "Capt." J. B., 160, 161, 166, 167, 

168, 169 
Cochrane, B. L., at Pottawatomie, 183; 

20, 110 
Colby, Deputy Marshal, 279 
Colcock, Hon. Wm. F., 59 
Coleman, Franklin, killed Dow, 87 
Collamer, Hon. Jacob, Mason Com., 365 



INDEX 



443 



CoIHs, Mr., wounded at Osawatomie, 167 

Committee, Mass. State Kans., 185, 187, 
188, 195, 200, 203, 221, 256 

Committee, National, Kans., 181, 184, 187, 
188, 189, 190, 196, 203, 221, 265 

Committee, Vigilance, 116, 221 

Committee, B.*s War, 245. 252. 254. 256, 
325 

Conant, John, 202 

Congressional Globe, 59 

Convention at Chatham, Canada, Call, 248 

Conway. Martin F., 187, 204, 211 

Cook, John E-, with B. at Pottawatomie, 
20, 110; talked too much, 287; Capt. 
Prov. Army, 295; hanged at Charles- 
town, 305; 139, 144, 214, 235, 236, 253, 
258, 286, 288, 292, 296, 298, 302, 321, 
328, 331, 332, i33, 342, 393. 401 

Cooke, John W., 40, 44 

Cooke, Lieut. Col. Philip St. George. U. 
S. Army, 59 

Copeland, J. A. Jr., colored; private Prov. 
Army, 295; hanged at Charlestown, 305; 
298, 337 

Coppoc, Barclay, private, Prov. Army. 
295; escaped from H. F., 292; 295, 296 

Coppoc, Edwin, first lieutenant, Prov. 
Army, 295; hanged at Charlestown, 305; 
298, 306, 311 

Corcoran, W. W.. 58 

Cracklin, Capt. Joseph, 152. 154, 175 

Crawford, Geo. A., 276 

Crawford. Brig. Genl. S. W., 339 

Crittenden, Hon. John C, 60 

Cruise, David, killed in Mo. raid, 270; 
272 

Cuba, Pearl of the Antilles. 60 

Currie, L- F., quoted, 331 

Dangerfield, J. E., at II. F., 306 
Daniels, Jim, slave liberated by B. in Mo. 

raid, 271 
Davis, Mr., 138 
Davis, Hon. Jefferson, of Miss. Mason 

Com., 60, 365 
Davis, William Watson, Ph.D., 10 
Day, Charles, 28 

Day, Mary Anne, B.'s second wife. 28 
Day, Orson, 93, 97 
Davenport, Braxton, 366 
Dayton, Capt. Oscar V., 92, 101 
De Bow's Review, 70 
Deitzler, Geo. W., 147, 211 
Denver, James Wilson, acting-governor of 

Kansas Ter., 260 



Denver, Treaty, 260, 267 
er, 281 

Dixon, lion. Archibald, of Kentucky. (.1 
Doolittle, lion. Janus EL, .if Wis., 

Com., 236, 365 
Dorsey, Mr., wounded at II. P., 312 
Douglas. Hon. Stephen A., 58 
Douglas, Frederick, 2i'>, 240, 24 1 

336, 349 
Dow, Charles, murdered, 87 
Doyle, Drury, murdered by 15., 103 
Doyle, John, murdered by B., 99, i' 

103 

Mrs. Mahala, statement, 103 
William, murdered by B., 103 

Edwards. Sam, slave at Southampton, 360 
Eighteenth Conn. Infty.. 27 
Ellsworth. Alfred M.. colored, M. C, 250 
Elmore, Rush, Judge 276 
Emancipation Proclamation, 63 
Emerson. Ralph Waldo, 186, 199. 379, 380. 
397 

Faqi ii:r Cavalry, 392 

Fastness, '•hilltop, - ' myth, 328, 330, 332, 

335, 338, 339, 340 
Fastness, "inaccessible," myth, 323, 339, 

340 
Faulkner, Hon. Chas. J., 312, 
Fay, John W., 160 
Fitch. Hon. G. N. of fnd Mason Com., 

365 
Floyd, Hon. John B., Secy, of War, 288, 

289 
Forbes, Col. Hugh. Soldier of Fortune, 

224; not a drill master, 226; his letters 

to B. suppressed, 242: 2^. 227. 228, 

229, 231, 232, 234. 235. 238, 23". 240, 

241, 254, 256, 285, 341. 342. 347. 356. 

358, 400, 401. 406 
Frazcc, Lieut. Noah. 160 
Frederick The Great. 299. 300. 332 
Frothingham. Octaviui B., quoted, 3S3 

355 
Fugitive Slave Law. 4X 

Gabriel, "General," slave, in 

Sept.. 1800. 358 
Gait House, H. P., 304 
Garibaldi, -\ • 

Garnett, Rev. Henry EL, color..!. 
Garrett, John W. Preat B. ft B Rd 
101 



444 



INDEX 



Garrett, Thomas, Underground Railroad, 

52 
Garrison, William Lloyd, quoted, 362; 45, 

186, 187 
Garrison, David, killed at Osawatomie, 

166 
Gaudeloupe Hidalgo, Treaty of, 57 
Gaylord, Daniel C, 29, 40 
Geary, Genl. John W., Gov. K. T., 69, 

70, 174, 176, 184 
Gileadites, U. S. league of, 48, 50 
Gill, Geo. B., Sec. Treas. Prov. Gov., 250; 

letter not heretofore published, 130; 

259, 262-266 inc., 269, 270, 271, 278, 

292, 342, 348, 404, 406 
Gilpatrick, R., 114 
Glenn, John P., 160 
Gloucester, Dr. J. N., colored, 247 
Goliath-American, 80 
Godel, John, 159 
Golden Rule, 199, 344 
Golding, R., chairman, 114 
Grant, Ulysses S., 398 
Gray, Mr., Turner's Confessor, 362 
Greeley, Horace, 224, 232 
Grinnell, Josiah B., 282 
Green, Israel, Lieut. U. S. Marine Corps, 

308, 309, 310, 320, 321 
Green, Shields, colored, private Prov. 

Army, 295; hanged at Charlestown, 305, 

311 
Green, Thomas G., counsel for B., 366, 

369, 371, 372 
Griswold, Hiram, counsel for B., 369, 370, 

372, 373 
Grover, Capt. Joel, 156, 158 
Grover, Mr., entertains B. near Law- 
rence, 274 
Gue, David J., author of letter to Floyd, 

289 

"H" Co. 7th South Carolina, 340 

Hairgrove, Wm., 262 

Hale, Hon. John P., U. S. Senator, N. 
H., 255 

Hamilton, Chas. A., massacre, of Free 
State men, 260 

Hamilton, Thomas S., testimony, 137 

Hammond, C. G., Supt. Mich. Southern 
Ry., 282 

Hammond, Mr., wounded at H. F., 312 

Hamtrack Guards, 302 

Hand, T. H., 152 

Harding, Chas. B., counsel for prosecu- 
tion of B., 373 



Harris, James, testimony, 104 

Harris, Wm. B., 159 

Harvey, Maj. James A., 157, 173 

Haskell, Genl. W. A., 174 

Hauser, Samuel, 160 

Hawse, Alexander G., 163, 170 

Hazlett, Albert, Capt. Prov. Army, 295; 

hanged at Charlestown, 305; 262, 264, 

265, 270, 292, 298, 336, 393 
Hayward, Shepherd, colored, killed at H. 

F., 300, 301, 335 
Heywood (Hayward), 316 
Herald of Freedom, 91, 93, 275 
Hicklan, Harvey B., home plundered by 

B., 270; statement, 271, 272 
Higgins, Patrick, 300, 335 
Higgins, Hon. William, quoted, 164 
Higginson, Col. Thomas Wentworth, 

member of B.'s War Com., 254; 51, 52, 

185, 217, 244, 257, 325, 381, 397 
Hinton, Richard J., author, 17, 26, 130, 

228, 235, 264, 342, 384 
Hinton Papers, 130', 348 
History of Iowa, Gue, 289 
Holliday, C. K., 211 
Holmes, "Capt." J. H., 160, 161, 162, 

170, 171, 172, 179, 213, 214, 235 
Holt, James H., H. F., 305 
Homyr, T., 262 

Hooper, Mr., wounded at H. F., 312 
Howard, Hon. W. A., chairman, 100; re- 
port quoted, 103, 104, 105, 137, 138 
Howe, Dr. Saml. G., member of B.'s War 

Com., 254; 186, 240, 242, 245, 255, 257. 

325, 347, 353, 355, 384 
Hoyt, Major David S., murdered, 62 
Hoyt, Geo. H., counsel for B., and spy, 

368; 370, 372, 383, 385 
Humphrey, Rev. Dr. Luther, 388 
Hunter, Andrew, special counsel for Va., 

312; quoted, 330, 367; 365. 368, 371, 

373. 374, 375, 393, 416 
Hunter, Harry, at H. F., 304 
Hurd, H. B., Secy. Nat. Kan. Com., 188, 

266 
Hurlbut, Mr., 78 
Hugo, Victor, quoted, 398 
Hyatt, Thaddeus, 245, 353 

Ingalls, Hon. John James, quoted, 397; 

399 
Irwin, Mr., 304 

Jackson, Prof. Thomas J., 339, 392 
Jackson, Col. Zadock, 70 



INDEX 



445 



Jackson, Patrick Tracy, 186 

Jamison, Quartermaster Genl., 220 

Jefferson Guards, 301, 303 

Jennison, Col. Chas. H., 264, 269, 281, 

293, 384 
Johnson, William Savage, Ph.D., 10 
Johnston, Col. Joseph E. , 69, 175, 176 
Jones, John T. (Ottawa), 101, 194 

Kagi, John H., Secy, of War, 249, 352; 
Capt. Prov. Army, 295, 298; "bravest 
of the brave," 329; killed at H. F., 305; 
235, 236, 259, 262, 263, 264, 269, 277, 
278, 281, 284, 285, 287, 288, 297, 337, 
342, 349, 401 
Kaiser, Charles, 139, 160 
Kansas Conflict, quoted, 277 
Kansas Crusade, quoted, 65, 71 
Kansas Hist. Coll., 117 
Kansas Hist Soc, 130, 189, 209 
Kansas House of Representatives, resolu- 
tion concerning statue of B., 400 
Kellogg, George, Agt., 33, 35 
Kendall, Archibald, 214 
Kennedy, Dr. B., deceased, 286 
Kennedy Farm, B.'s headquarters, 286; 
abandoned, 331; 290, 291, 296, 305, 321, 
327 
Kidd, Captain, his treasure chest, 341; 

230, 407 
King, Rev. H. D,, 42, 280 
Kitzmiller, A. M., at H. F., 301, 304 
Knipe, Col. Joseph F., 46th Pa., 339 

Lafayette Artillery, Richmond, Va., 

362 
Lane, Genl. James H., 90, 91, 92, 154, 

155, 158, 162, 163. 173, 211, 219, 220, 

264 
Lane, M. D., 160 
Larue, John, home plundered by B., 270, 

272 
Lawrence, Amos A., quoted, 186; 202, 218 
Lawrence Republican, Kansas, 276 
Learnard, Col. O. E~, 156, 211 
Leather and Manufacturers Bank of 

New York, 39 
Leavenworth Times, 279 
Leavitt, Rev. Joshua, 224 
Leary, L. S., colored, private Prov. Army, 

295; mortally wounded at H. F., 305; 

298, 337 
Le Barnes, J. W., activities in behalf of 

B.. 368, 383, 385 
Lee, Lieut. Col. Robert E.. U. S. Army. 



famous in world's history, 392 

clined command of Cuban expedition, 

60; in command of V. S. I 

F., 308, 309, 312; nt Charlestown, Y.i., 

392 
Eccman, William II., characteristic letter. 

288; Capt. Prov. Army, 295; killed at 

H. F., 304; 236, 292, 293, 302, 303, 

304, 305 
Lenhart, Charles, 20, 110, 139 
Liberty Guards, 20, 21. 98, 11'.. 120, l-'l 
Lincoln. Hon. Abraham, 380, 398 
Lincoln Sailors and Sol.li.rs National 

Monument Association, Statue of B 

400 
Little, J. H., killed at Ft. Scott, 269 
Little Hornet (Holme*?, 214. 215, 

235 
Longreen, J. W-, colored. 24K 
Lopez. Narcisso, expedition against Cuba, 

garroted, 60 
Loring, Major, command of infantry in 

B.'s escort, 394 
Loudoun Valley, Va., 336 
Loudoun Heights, not inaccessible, 339 
Lusk, Miss Dianthe, B.'s first wife, 28 

McCabE. Mr., wounded at H. F.. 312 

McDow, W. C, 114 

McGee, Clyde, panegyric on B., 398: 

criticism, 399 
McLaren, E. C, 86 
McMaster, 56 
McKim. Mrs., with Mrs. B. at II 1", 

392 
McKim, J. M., 392 

Mansfiklp. Major General Joseph K, 

killed at Antietam. 339 
Manual of the Patriotic Volunteer, strat- 
agem. 341 
Martin. Hugh, home plundered. 270 
Marcy. Hon. Win. I.. Secy, of St.it.. 60 
Maryland Heights. Md., not inacessibte, 

338, 339 
Mason, Hon. J. M., U. r, Va.. 

chairman. 312. 313. 314. 356, 365 
Mason Report, 42. S2, S3. 188, 20 

2^6. 242*, 24'}. 255, 256, 288. 300. 309. 

312. 3:i. 330. 331. 34 

378, 3°4. 404. 417 
Mason, Dr.. 3T4 

Massachusetts \rms Co., 203, 317 
Massachusetts Emigrant \id Co , 64. 203 
Springfield 



446 



INDEX 



Massachusetts Legislature, Committee ad- 
dressed by B., 192-195; 106, 181, 184, 
191, 405 

Maxon, Wra., lodges the tyros, 238 

Mass. Society of Mayflower Descendants, 
27 

Mayflower, the, 27, 191, 192, 431 

Medary, Gov. Samuel, 276, 279 

Mendenhall, Richard, quoted, 161; 92 

Meriam, Francis J., private, Prov. Army, 
295; gives B. $600. 290; escapes from 
H. F., 305; 296, 342 

Mickel, John, 262 

Mills, Dr. L,ucius, B.'s nephew, 150, 182 

Mills, Owen, 32 

Mills, Lieut. Col. S. S., 321 

Miller, John, testimony, 138 

Miller, William, 160 

Missouri Compromise, 55, 61 

Moffet, Charles \V., a tyro, 236; 235 

Monroe, S., alias used by B., 285 

Montgomery, James, 259. 260, 262, 266, 
267, 269, 276, 405 

Morgan, Shubel, alias used by B., 257. 
261, 262, 276 

Moore, E., 348 

Moore, Eli, quoted. 117 

Morris, Academy, 42 

Morse, John F., Jr., quoted. 17; 18. 27 

Morton, Edward, 246, 355 

Murphy, Mr., wounded at H. F.. 312 

Napoleon, 237, 238, 407 

Negro Race in America. Williams, 346, 

358, 361 
Neighbors, The, Thayer to B., 211 
Newby, Dangerfield, colored, private, 

Prov. Army. 295; killed at H. F., 304; 

337 
New England Woolen Co., defrauded by 

B., 33; 31, 405 
North American Review, 374 
New York Courier and Inquirer, 61 
New York Herald, 71, 316, 320 
New York Legislature, 181, 196, 405 
New York Tribune, 65, 70, 138, 147, 200. 

224 
Northampton Woolen Mills Co., 37, 3S 
Norton, Charles Eliot, quoted, 16 

Oberlin College, 35, 39, 45 

"Old Brown's Farewell," 404 

Oliver, Hon. M. N., M. C. from Mo., mo 

Onthank, Nathan B., 353 

Oregon Boundary Question. 56 



Organized Emigration, 64, 65 

Osawatomie, Battle of, Reid's official re- 
port, 164, his estimate of, 169; 157, 165, 
168 

Osawatomie State Park, battle field, 399 

Ostend Manifesto. 61 

Oviatt, Heman, 30, 36 

Parker. Judge Richard, presides at B.'s 

trial, 367, 372, 374, 377 
Parker, Rev. Theodore, knew what B.'s 
purposes were at H. F., 353; quoted. 
353; member of B.'s war committee. 
257; encomium, 397; 187, 206, 207, 208, 
229, 243, 325 

Parsons, Luke F., in Osawatomie cattle 
raid, 159; tyro, 236; 156, 168, 169, 235, 
342 

Partridge, Miss Mary, 3S4 

Partridge, William, in Osawatomie cattle 
raid, 159; 262 

Partridge, George W.. killed at Osawat- 
omie, 167; 169 

Pate, Capt. Henry Clay, pursues B., 140; 
surrenders to B. at Black Jack, 143; de- 
ceived B., 405; 135, 139, 141, 145, 223, 
403 

Peace Society, Boston, addressed by Ger- 
rit Smith, 257; 275 

Perkins, Simon, Jr., opinion of B., 37; 36 

Perkins and Brown, irregular methods of, 
37; losses, liquidation and litigation, 38, 
39 

Peter the Apostle, a militant, 389; 293 

Petersburg Dragoons, 362 

Phelps, N. B., in Osawatomie cattle raid, 
159 

Phelps, Conductor of B. & O. train, 300, 
301, 330, 342 

Phillips, Wendell, encomium, 396; 186 

Phillips, William A., 83, 147, 211, 213 

"Pickles" in B.'s Mo. raid, 264 

Pierce, J. J., colored, 348 

Pinkerton, Allen, 282 

Pleasant Valley, Md., 336 

Pomeroy, Hon. Samuel C, 89 

Pottawatomie, The, 19, 20, 22, 23, 111. 
113, 115, 117, 118, 119, 120, 121, 122, 
125, 126, 129, 133, 135, 139, 140, 147, 
152, 159, 171, 182, 183, 190, 198, 236. 
271, 343, 344 

Pottawatomie Rifles, organized to release 
B. from command of Liberty Guards, 
98; B. not member of, 132; John B., 



INDEX 



447 



Jr., deposed from command, 125; 20, 
21, 101, 107, 126 

Porter, Henry, slave, Southampton, 360 

Powers, Mr., killed at Osawatomie, 167 

Poyes, Peter, slave, enlisted 600 slaves, 
359 

Prairie City Rifles, 140, 160 

Preston, William J., Deputy U. S. Mar- 
shal, 144 

Price, C. II., President of meeting at Osa- 
watomie, 114 

Provisional Army, Gen. Order No. 1, 351; 
casualties of at H. F., 312; 234, 286, 
343, 352 

Provisional Constitution and Ordinances, 
Appendix; written hy B., 243; copies at 
H. F., 342; 248, 249, 250 

Provisional Government, 254; jurisdiction 
of to be established over Southern 
States, 227, 329, 341; 130, 227, 234, 24". 
251, 289, 290, 330, 347, 401 

Quick, William, in Osawatomie cattle 

raid, 160 
Quinn, Luke, U. S. Marine Corps, killed 

at H. F., 312; 416 
Quitman, Gen. John A., expedition against 

Cuba, 60 

Realf, Richard, Secy, of State, Prov. 
Govt, 250; 235, 236, 249, 254, 287, 342 
Recollections of seventy years, Sanborn. 
82, 396 

Redpath, James, B.'s first biographer, 15; 
criticism by Charles Eliot Norton, 16; 
meets Brown, 138; B.'s intentions at II. 
F., 323; knew how B. intended to assail 
the slave power, 342; quoted, 92, 93, 
110, 139, 192, 332, 357, 375, 395; crit- 
icism, 82, 122, 195, 335 

Reece, Mr., killed, Southampton Mas- 
sacre, 362 

Reeder, Andrew H., territorial governor 
of Kansas, 67, 204 

Reid, Gcnl. John W., report battle of 
Osawatomie, 164; "driving out a flock 
of quail," 170; 163, 168, 169, 174 

Reynolds, R., in Osawatomie cattle raid, 
160 

Reynolds, G. J., colored, negro military 
organization, 348 

Revere House, Boston, 257. 258 

Rhodes, James Ford, 60, 61 

Rice, Benjamin, 269 

Richmond Enquirer, 362 



Richardson, Mr., wounded at II. 1' . 312 
Richardson, Richard, colored, 236 
Ritchie, Col. John, at "Battle of the 

Spurs," 279 

Robinson, Charles, "no greater luro," 55; 
challenged the logic of the revolver 
.-md bowie-knife, quoted, 67 

governor, 68; speech, Wakarus.i 

91; six cheers for, ''_'; justifies B., 115; 

invites him to call, 176; writ* 

gratulations to B., also recommendation, 

177; discredited in the Bail by B., 187; 

congratulations t" I'.. guarded, 200; 

Revolution in Kansas, 225; Denver 

Treaty, 260; 10, 46, 63, 66. 69, 90, 204. 

211, 213, 222 
Robinson, Mrs, Sara T. D., memory of, 

7; wife to Charles Robinson, 10 
Roosevelt, Hon. Theodore, dedicatl 

watomie State Park. 390 
Ross, "Betsy," 290 
Root, Dr. J. P., 184 
Roving Editor, 15 
Rupert, private, marine, wounded at II. 

F., 312 
Russell, Judge Thomas, 186, 205. 208. 

368, 369 
Russell, Major W. W.. Paymaster Ma 

line Corps, in the nssnnlt at II. P., 416 

S.m.athiki.. John, in Osawatomie rattle 
raid. 159 

Sanborn, Franklin Benjamin. Author, I. iff 
and Letters of John Brown, 15; crit- 
icism by John F. Morse, Jr.. IT. 
pressed B.'s letter of June 12, 
concerning his intentions to defraud tin- 
New England Woolen Co.. 34; abridge' 

ment of IV'- letter Apr. 27, 1840. from 
Ripley, Va. not satisfactory, 53; as- 
sumptions concerning B.'s anti-slavery 
activities not justified by his published 
letters. S2; exposition of Pottawatomie 
incident disingenuous, 122; Secy. Masi 
State Kan. Com., 185; proi 
ure to secure appropriation of $100. onn 
for B., address before Com.. 191; pil- 
grimage to Baston, Pa. with B 
a disunionist, letter to Higginw i 
218; member of 1'..' 
245; sends B. $50.00, 263; BCtJ 
effect B.'s escape from prison, 385; en- 
comium, 396; quoted, 34, 37, 154, 155 
185. '• < 

325-326. 346; criticism. 53, 109 



448 



INDEX 



123, 154, 247, 325, 326; references of 
minor importance omitted 

Saunders Fort, 155, 156 

San Domingo, 26, 346, 353 

Sandy Hook, Md., 286, 308, 336 

Schouler, 61, 251 

Scott, Capt., Va. cavalry, 394 

Scott, General Winfield, U. S. Army, 60 

Sebastian, St., 17 

Siebert, W. H., quoted, 330 

Seward, Hon. William H., U. S. Senator 

from N. Y., 54, 63, 239, 255 

Shannon Treaty, 106 

Shannon, Wilson, Ter. Gov. of Kan., 86, 
87, 88, 89, 91, 176 

Sharpsburg, Md., 336 

Shepherdstown Troop, 302 

Sheridan, Mrs., 235 

Sherman, Henry, Bro. of William, to have 
been murdered at Pottawatomie, 99, 
102, 109, 159 

Sherman, William, murdered by Brown, 
99, 103 

Shermans, Henry and William, 112 

Sherrod, Mr., killed in Kansas, 157, 319 

Shombre, Capt. Samuel, killed at Ft. Ti- 
tus, 156; 158 

Shoppert, A. G, killed Leeman, 304 

Shore, Capt. S. T., joins B.'s party at 
Black Jack, 140; 101, 137, 142, 143, 145, 
160, 163 

Shriver, Col., at H. F., 308 

Sill, William, colored, 248 

Sinn, Captain, interviews B., 307 

Smith, Gerrit, gives 120,000 acres of land 
to negroes, 38; conclave at his home, 
244; would fight the U. S., 245; mem- 
ber of War Com., 254; orator for peace 
society of Boston, and presides as 
chairman of B.'s War Com., 257; knew 
what B.'s purposes at H. F. were, 354; 
quoted, 224, 245, 353; contributions, 75, 
215, 218, 245, 263, 255, 287; 46, 75, 
108, 181, 203, 218, 232, 248, 287, 316, 
344, 355 

Smith, I. and Sons, alias of B., 285 

Smith, Rev. Stephen, colored, 248 

Smith, W. P., master of transportation 
B. & O. R. Rd., 301 

Snyder, Elias, 262 

Snyder, John H., 262 

Snyder, Simon, 262 

Soldier of the Cross, 393 

Soldier of Fortune, 326 

Southampton Massacre, 362 



Southampton Regiment, 362 

South Carolina, insurrection, 358 

South Carolina Courier, 70 

Spooner, Lysander, would kidnap Gov. 
Wise, 384 

Spring, L. W., quoted, 101 

Squatter Sovereignty, 49, 50, 61, 63, 64 

Standish, Miles, 191, 192 

Stark, "Mollie," 290 

Starry, Dr. John D., 301 

Statuary Hall, Washington, D. C, 399, 
400 

St. Bernard, village, 138 

Stearns, George Luther, entertains B., 
187; gives B. $7,000; seeks to have N. 
Y. Leg. appropriate $100,000 for B.; 
member of B.'s War Com., 254; recalls 
check for $7,000, 221; letters, 196, 204; 
186, 203, 208, 209, 211, 212, 218, 233, 
244, 257, 266, 325, 352, 384, 431 

Stearns, Mrs. George Luther, statement, 
207, 390, 404, 405 

Stearns, Henry L., 212, 431 

Stephens, Hon. Alexander H., quoted, 59 

Stevens, Aaron D., alias Charles Whip- 
ple, captures 80 horses, 173; private of 
Vols, in Mexico; private 1st Dragoons; 
assaults an officer; sentenced to death; 
sentence commuted; Col. 2nd Regt. 
Free-State Army, 236, 237; in charge of 
war college, 238; with B. in Kansas, 
262; commands division in Mo. raid, 
269; killed Cruise, quoted, 270; with 
Tidd steals span of horses, 278; not an 
ideal Christian character, 293; Capt. 
Prov. Army, 295, 298; "bravest of the 
brave," 329; wounded at H. F., 304; 
hanged at Charlestown, 305; "hard 
headed American," 329; military leader, 
342; 226, 272, 289, 299, 312, 315, 365, 
401 

Stevenson, Samuel, 262 

Stewart, Geo. H., Maj. Genl., 302 

Stewart, James, 384 

Stratton, H., 155 

Strider, Samuel, summoned B. to sur- 
render, 307 

Stringfellow, Genl. B. F., 66, 174 

Stribbling, Dr., 370 

Stuart, Lieut. J. E. B., volunteer aid to 
Lee at H. F., 30'8; 309. 310, 312, 314 

Stultz, Capt., 157 

Sugar Mound Treaty, 267, 269 



INDKX 



149 



Sumner, Col. E. V., 141, 144, 145, 239. 
279 

Sussex Regiment, 362 

Taft, Hon. William Howard, 55 
Taliaferro, Maj. Gcnl. W. B., in com- 
mand at Charlestown, Va., 391 
Tappan, Arthur, donates land to Oberlin 

College, 45 
Tator, Cyrus, in Osawatomie cattle raid, 

160 
Taylor, Stewart, private, Prov. Army. 

295; killed at H. F., 312; 303. 336 
Teesdale, John, editor, Des Moines Regis- 
ter, 281 
Thayer, Eli, hero, 55; organized Mass. 
Emigrant Aid Company, 64; quoted, 
66; purchases 200 revolvers for B., 
204; letter to B., "The Neighbors," 
210; 63, 65, 205, 276 
Thompson, Dauphin, first lieutenant Prov. 
Army, 295; killed at H. F., 312; 289, 
292 
Thompson, Henry, B.'s son-in-law, 41; 
member of the "little company of six," 
102, 107; plans dependent upon B.'s 
until "school is out," 99, 116; wounded 
at Black Jack, 143; stealing horses, 149; 
a Kansas sufferer, 182; 76, 78, 94, 111, 
118, 119, 121, 124, 136, 146, 153, 171 
Thompson, Ruth Brown. 41 
Thompson, William, steals horses in Ne- 
braska, 150; Capt. Prov. Army, 295; 
killed at H. F., 304; 153, 289, 294, 297, 
302, 303, 337, 372 
Thoreau, Henry D„ quoted, 198, 396; 186 
Tidd, Charles P., tyro, 236; in the Mo. 
raid, 270; steals span of horses, 278; 
captain Prov. Army, 295; escaped from 
H. F., 305; 220, 221, 259, 262, 266, 289, 
297, 298 
Tilden, Judge Daniel R., 368, 369, 372 
Titus, Col. H. T., wounded at Ft. Titus. 

158; 156, 157, 158 
Titus, Fort, battle of, 156 
Todd, Rev. John, refuses to pray for B., 

280, 281 
Toombs, Hon. Robert, U. S. Senator from 

Georgia, 58 
Topeka Daily Capital, 9 
Toussaint L'Overture, 249, 357 
Townsley, James, confession concerning 
the Pottawatomie murders, 101. 103; at 
Black Jack, 136; 98, 99, 126 
Tracy, John T., Ry. Supt., 282 



Travis, Hark, slave, Turner's massacre, 

360 
Travis, Joseph, killed. Turner's massacre, 

361. 362 
Tucker, Captain. 157 
Tubman. Mrs. Harriet, 24K 
Turner, Geo. W., tolled al II. F.. 30S. 312 
Turner, Mrs., killed. Turner's ma 

362 
Turner, Nat, slave, insurrection of 1K31. 

360-362; 3S6, 357, 358, 404 
Tyndall, Hector, 392 

Underground Railroad, safety-valve of 

slavery, 346; 51, 330 
Updegraff, Dr. William W., wounded at 

Osawatomie. 164, 168, 169 
United States Gazette, 359 
Unseld, John C, testimony concerning 

B.'s intentions at EL F., 330; 386. 320 

Yallandigham, Hon. Clement L., M. C. 
from Ohio, quoted, 357, 402; 312, 313, 
314, 315, 316, 399, 416 

Vandaman, S. V., 114 

Varney, Moses, revealed B.'s plans, 289 

Vaughn, Mr., killed. Turner's insurrec- 
tion, 362 

Vesey, Denmark, slave, insurrection in 
South Carolina, 359 

Virginia, two slave insurrections, 358 

Villard, Oswald Garrison (since refer 
ences to Mr. Yillard's book occur so 
frequently only the more important of 
them have been indexed). B.'s latest 
biographer, 15; pledges fidelity to his 
subject, 18; criticism concerning, 
inc.; B. not Mayflower descendant. 27; 
eulogium concerning B. and his motive 
for going to Kansas. 80-81; criticism 
of, 81-85; imposed upon by Salmon B. 
and Henry Thompson. 118: Kekl justi 
fication for B.'s crime at Pottawatomie. 
120; suppressed B.'s letter of April 7. 
1856, 123; criticism concerning. 123; 
contradicts authenticated history con- 
cerning an important fact, 124; crit- 
icism concerning. 124- 125; assumes that 
B.'s motives for robbery and murder 
were unselfish, criticism. 12". -ummary 
of conclusions concerning Pottawatomie, 
127-129; criticism. 129-234; ox:- 
of B.'s life "in the bush" disingenuous. 
147-148; criticism, 148-150: testimony 
conflicting ns to whether B. was in the 



450 



INDEX 



fighting around Lawrence in Aug., 
1856; criticism, 156-157; concerning 
B.'s Osawatomie cattle raid, 160-161; 
concerning the battle at Osawatomie, 
164, 168; criticism, 169; disingenuous 
concerning death of Frederick B., 170- 
171; criticism, 171; disingenuous con- 
cerning B.'s actions after Osawatomie, 
criticism, 172; mystery of B.'s delay at 
Tabor, criticism, 217; concerning Hugh 
Forbes, 225; exposition of Constitution 
and Ordinances, theory of B.'s inten- 
tions concerning H. F., 251-252; crit- 
icism, 252-253; logic of exposition, 271: 
no constructive work to B.'s credit. 
278; B.'s battle-worn Kansas cap, 
296; criticism, 296-297: Harper's Fer- 
ry references, 299 to 309; B.'s 
wounds not serious, 311; personal 
conceptions of B.'s plans at H. F., and 
criticism of B. because he failed to ex- 
ecute them, 327-328; criticism, 327-340 
concerning B.'s speech which "thrilled 
the world," 377; criticism, 278-380 
when B. first conceived his greatest or 
principal object in life not an idle que: 
tion, 402; criticism, 402-403; quoted 
33, 35, 36, 37, 46, 54, 76, 80, 90, 100 
106, 146, 149, 150, 152, 159, 160, 162 
163, 175-176, 179, 185, 187, 198, 219 
224, 228, 235, 236, 259, 260, 273, 278 
329, 332, 345, 365; criticism, 46, 47, 90 
91, 118, 153, 178; references, 29, 30 
39, 44, 99, 200, 207, 218, 227, 263, 267 
270, 271, 281, 283, 284, 287, 288, 289 
290, 291, 292, 295, 301, 320, 346, 348 
349, 357, 363, 364, 368, 370, 372, 381 
384, 387, 392, 393, 394, 398 
Von Hoist, 58, 59, 61, 62, 106. 301 

Wadsworth, Tertius, 31 

Wager House, H. F., 302 

Walker, Col. Samuel, 154, 156, 157, 158 

Waller, Mrs., killed, Turner's Massacre, 

362 
Walsh, Hon. Hugh S., acting-governor of 

Kansas Ter., 267 
War College, 235, 342 
"Ward, Artemus," quoted, 283 
Ware, Eugene F., "Ironquill," 341 
Washington, Col. Lewis T., 298, 299, 300, 

302, 310, 312, 318 
Washington, George, 237, 299 
Watertown Reformer, N. Y., 127 
Wattles, Augustus, 83, 176, 262, 272, 273. 

274, 404 



Webster, Hon. Daniel, 58, 59 

Weiner, Theodore, 20, 102, 103, 109, 110, 
124, 136, 146 

Wells, Mrs., armorer at H. F., 306 

Wells, Joseph, 31 

Wheelan, Daniel, prisoner at H. F., 297, 
298, 329 

Whipple, Charles, alias of Stevens, 237 

Whitaker, Prof. William Asbury, 10 

Whitehead, Mrs., killed, Turner's insur- 
rection, 362 

White, Horace, Asst. Secy. Nat. Kan. 
Com., 189, 190 

White, Rev. Martin, 167, 170, 171 

Whitfield, Brig. Genl. J. W., 174 

Whitman, E. B., 182, 184, 191, 219, 220. 
221, 259, 265 

Whittier, J. G., 95 

Wild, Jonathan, 407 

Wilder, D. W., correspondence Ttfith au- 
thor, 411 

Wilkinson, Hon. Allen, murdered by B., 
99, 102 

Wilkinson, Mrs. Allen, testimony, 104 

Will, slave, Turner's insurrection, 361 

Williams, Mr., killed, Turner's insurrec- 
tion, 362 

Williams, Captain H. EL, Pottawatomie 
Rifles, 114, 125 

Williams, J., killed, Turner's insurrection, 
362 

Williams, Nelson, slave, Turner's insur- 
rection, 360 

Williams, William, prisoner, H. F., 296, 
298 

Wilmot, Proviso, 57 

Wilson, Hon. Henry, U. S. Senator from 
Mass., 239, 254, 255, 256 

Wilson, Joseph E-, in the assaula on en- 
gine house at H. F., 9 

Wimsett, Farm, 269 

Wise, Hon. Henry A., Gov. of Va., 302, 
308, 312, 319, 320, 330, 367, 370, 378, 
380, 384, 391, 392, 416 

Wise, O. Jennings, 309 

Wood, A. P., 279 

Wood, Captain Thomas J., U. S. Army, 
173 

Wood, Fernando of New York, 380 

Wood, Samuel N., 147, 211 

Woodward, B. W., 211 

Woolet, Mr., wounded at H. F., 312 

Wright, Judge J. W., 260 

Young, Mr., wounded at H. F., 31 



3Ll77-2 



